From a hot spring of the Azores islands a novel thermophilic bacterium belonging to the Thermotogales order was isolated. This strain, which grows optimally at 70(deg)C and pH 6.5, is the first known extreme thermophile that is able to degrade native feathers at high temperatures. The enzyme system converts feather meal to amino acids and peptides. On the basis of physiological, morphological, ...

Piedra are considered asymptomatic superficial mycoses characterised by fungal growth that form nodules on the outside of hair shaft. Two types of piedra exist: white piedra (trichosporosis) caused by the basidiomycetous yeasts Trichosporon spp. and black piedra produced by the ascomycete Piedraia hortae. While the first produce soft white or light brown nodules formed by closely attached funga...

Keratins are water insoluble proteins of our environment. Being extremely resistant to degradation by proteolytic enzymes, keratins are digested mainly by alkali and keratinase enzymes. The aim of present study was to characterize the indigenous keratinase for potentials of keratin-degrading activities. We report the purification and characterization of keratinase from Bacillus subtilis isolate...

Dermatophyte and yeast species have been screened for their degradative ability towards various keratin substrates. Application of soluble preparation of keratin (KS) of chicken feathers enables a preliminary evaluation of the growth of the fungi and screening of fungal isolates that possesed keratinolytic activity and keratinase enzyme. Five dermatophytes i.e. Trichophyton rubrum, Trichophyton...