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Molecular Characterization of Fungi Associated with Cowdung-impacted Soil

Dung is the undigested remains of food taken in by herbivores. It is a combination of faeces and urine at a ratio
of 3:1. It mostly consists of cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin. Cow dung harbours several microorganisms,
including various species of fungi. The aim of this study was to isolate and characterize the fungal organisms
associated with cow dung-impacted soil using both traditional cultural techniques and molecular method. DNA
extraction was carried out using Zymo Quick DNA Fungal/Bacterial Mini prep kit. The Polymerase Chain
Reaction (PCR) amplification of the Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) genes, using the universal primer pair;
ITS4 and ITS5, generated amplicon sizes of 372 and 834 base pairs. The amplicons were sequenced using Sanger
sequencing and the isolates were identified as Lichtheimia ramosa and Galactomyces pseudocandidus.
Phylogenetic analysis showed the relationship that exists between the fungal species and other closely-related
species in GenBank such as: Aspergillus amstelodami, Absidia corymbifera, Mycocladus corymbiferus and
Geotrichum candidum. This study has provided information on some of the fungal organisms harboured by
cowdung-impacted soil which will help predict the possibility for disease transmission to plants or humans
through cow dung.