Isolation, Screening and Identification of Lipase Producing Fungi from Oil Contaminated Soil of Shani Mandir Ujjain

Abstract

Lipases are secreted by many fungi, yeasts and bacteria. The suitable habitat to isolate lipase producing microorganisms is the oil contaminated sites. In Ujjain a very famous „Navgrah-Shani‟ Temple situated at the Triveni Ghat of Kshipra river, where devotees from all over India come and worship the lord and it is an unique oily habitat for isolation of lipase producing microorganisms. The present study was aimed to isolate, screen and identify the lipase producing fungi from the oil contaminated soil. For isolation standard isolation method was followed, while screening was done on TBA (Tri Butyrin agar) medium. Results revealed that out of total 15, only five fungi were potent to produce lipase on TBA agar plates and these were used for further investigation. Aspergillus niger, Penicillium sp., Alternaria sp., Trichoderma sp., and Aspergillus flavus were identified according to colony morphology and microscopic observation. In relation to the different test strains, Alternaria sp., and Aspergillus flavus, were found the best among all extracellular lipase producers. Further, due to the fact that these microorganisms can be useful for bioremediation of oil contaminated sites, research is necessary to optimize the fermentative process in order to obtain higher lipase production through such fungal isolates.