Studies on Xerophilic, Acidiphilic, and Alkaliphilic Fungi in Wadi El-Natrun

Abstract

The present study is an unprecedented extensive survey of mycobiota of Wadi El-Natrun depression, Western Desert of Egypt, which is a hypersaline extreme environment. The study was confined to the eight main lakes of the Wadi during six seasons in the years 2007/2009. In general, 159 species, in addition to four species varieties assigned to 50 genera, were recovered during the current investigation. The widest spectra of species were recorded in the genera Aspergillus (22 species +2 varieties), Penicillium (19), Fusarium (17), and Acremonium (8). The widest spectrum of species was recorded in El Zugm Lake (82 species) while the lowest was in Fasida (51). Also, the control medium contributed the widest spectrum of species (95 species) while 10% NaCl medium had the lowest (46 species), with the wider spectrum also being recorded in winter and spring seasons and the narrowest during summer. Total of 40 isolates of the most commonly encountered species from different sources, lakes, and isolation media were tested for their capabilities of producing cellulase, protease, lipase, phosphatase, xylanase, and pectinase enzymes. Most isolates had the capabilities of producing cellulase (96%), protease (86.8%), lipase (92.3%), and phosphatase (100%) but with different degrees; however, only 3 out of 20 isolates tested were xylanolytic (15%) and only one out of 38 was pectinolytic.

1. Introduction

The Wadi El-Natrun, one of the most important alkaline environments, is situated on the western side of the Nile Delta of Egypt and includes some water bodies characterized by high salinity. Wadi El-Natrun climate is dry, has low and very variable rainfall, dry summer, high evaporation, and low humidity. It contains eight principal lakes for a distance of about 30 km; from south to north: Fasida, Umm Risha, Rosetta, Abu Gubara, Hamra, El Zugm, Al Beida, Khadra, and Al Gaar, noting that Abu Gubara and Hamra form one lake in the summer [1]. Extreme environments are populated by groups of fungi that are specifically adapted to these particular conditions and these are usually referred to as extremophilic fungi. Extremophiles fungi can be grouped according to the conditions in which they thrive into thermophiles and psychrophiles (which grow at the extremes of temperature ranges), acidophiles and alkaliphiles (extremes of pH), halophiles (high salt), barophiles or piezophiles (high pressures), and xerotolerant, which tolerate very low water activity [2, 3]. The active and stable nature of the microbial enzymes lead to their wide-spread use in various industries and applications [2].

1.1 Aim of the work

The study was confined to the eight main lakes of the Wadi during six seasons in the years 2007/2009. The study comprised the following aspects:

• Chemical analysis of different substrates studied (mud, salt crusts, and water).

• Isolation and identification of mycobiota of soil, mud, salt crusts, water, and air of the investigated lakes on sucrose agar medium as Osmophilic/osmotolerant; on salt agar medium as halophilic/halotolerant; on media adjusted at different acidic pHs as acidiphilic/aciditolerant; or alkaline pHs as alkaliphilic/alkalitolerant.

• Capabilities of the most common fungi of Wadi El Natrun of producing a wide range of enzymes, including cellulase, protease, lipase, phosphatase, pectinase, and xylanase under acidic, alkaline or saline conditions.

2. Materials and methods

2.1 A: Collection of samples

Samples (reclaimed soil, salt crusts, mud, water, and air) were collected during January 2007 – May 2009, from eight lakes (Fasida, Umm-Risha, Rosetta, Hamra, El El Zugm, Al Beida, Khadra, and Al Gaar) of Wadi El-Natrun (depression) region, Egypt.

1. Soil samples were collected randomly from reclaimed soil around the lakes

   Mud samples were collected at random from different sites inside and along the shore of lakes.

   Salt crust samples were collected at random from mineral formation present along the shores of the Lake.

   Water samples were collected in sterile bottles from different sites inside the lake by means sterile bottles.

2. Samples (soil, mud, and salt crusts) were put directly into a clean plastic bag as described [4].

3. At least five samples are taken at random from each place, then the five or more samples from each replication were brought into one composite sample, which was mixed thoroughly several times.

4. Samples (soil, mud, and salt crusts) were brought into the laboratory and kept in a cold place (5°C) till chemical and fungal analysis (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Showing the reclaimed soil around Fasida Lake (1) and salt crusts of El El Zugm Lake (2).

2.2 Chemical analysis of soil samples

pH value: A pH meter (Orior Research Model GOHL Digital Ionalyzer) was used for the determination of soil pH. The electrode was immersed directly in the soil suspension with a ratio of 1:5 (w /v) [5].

Organic matter content (OM %): A semi-quantitative method was used for the determination of organic matter, which involves the heated destruction of all organic matter in the soil (Astem 2000). OM% is calculated as the difference between the initial and final sample weights divided by the initial sample weight times 100%.

Total soluble salts (TSS): The specific electrical conductance was measured in the soil extract using the conductance meter (YSI, model 35). The percentage TSS in the samples was estimated using this equation: % TSS in the dry sample = 0.064 × EC × extract ratio. The conversion factor to percentage salts (0.064) was fairly applied for solutions extracted from the soil [5].

Sodium and potassium (Na⁺ & K⁺): Flame photometer method [5], using Carl Zeiss flame photometer, was used for the determination of Na⁺ and K⁺ cations.

Carbonate and bicarbonate: Total carbonate and bicarbonate were determined directly in the soil through hydrochloric acid digestion [4].

Calcium and magnesium (Ca⁺² & Mg⁺²): The versene (disodium dihydrogen ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid) titration method as recommended [6] was employed for Ca⁺² and Ca⁺² + Mg⁺² determinations.

Chloride (Cl⁻): Soluble chloride was estimated by applying the silver nitrate titration method using potassium chromate as an indicator [4].

2.3 Isolation of fungi

From soil, mud, and salt crusts: The dilution plate method was used to enumerate different fungal species [7] and employed in this laboratory. At least five samples are taken at random from each place, and then the five or more samples from each replication were brought into one composite sample, which was mixed thoroughly several times.

From the air: Replicate plates of 9 cm diameter containing sterile agar media (five for each medium type) were exposed to the air for 15 minutes from January 2006–May 2007. The plates were sealed, brought back to the laboratory, then incubated at 28°C for 7–21 days, during which the developing fungi were identified and counted.

1. Medium used for isolation of osmophilic and osmotolerant fungi

   Czapek Dox agar supplemented with 40% sucrose was used for isolation of osmophilic and osmotolerant fungi, from all sources investigated.

2. Medium used for isolation of halophilic and halotolerant fungi

   Modified Czapek Dox agar medium (in which glucose, 10 g/l, replaced sucrose), supplemented with 10% sodium chloride, was used for isolation of halophilic and halotolerant fungi.

3. Media used for isolation of acidiphilic and aciditolerant fungi

   Modified Czapek Dox agar media in which pH was adjusted at four or five using diluted HCl were used for isolation of acidiphilic and aciditolerant fungi.

4. Media used for isolation of alkaliphilic and alkalitolerant fungi

   Modified Czapek Dox agar in which pH was adjusted at 10, 13 using NaOH were used for isolation of alkaliphilic and alkalitolerant fungi.

2.4 Identification of fungi

The identification of fungal genera and species (purely morphologically based on macroscopic and microscopic features).

Enzymatic activities of fungal isolates

Forty fungal isolates represented by ten species, commonly encountered from different sources at Wadi El-Natrun region, were screened for their abilities to produce six extracellular enzymes on solid media.

A: Cellulase production

Cellulase production was tested on medium as described by [8].

B: Protease production

The fungal proteolytic ability was tested using casein hydrolysis medium [9].

C: Lipase production

Lipolytic ability of fungal isolates was tested on the medium [10] with slight modification, in which tween 80 (Sorbitan polyoxyethylene monooleate) replaced tween 20.

D: Phosphatase production

The ability of fungal isolates to produce phosphatase enzymes was detected using phosphatase medium [11].

E: Pectinase production

The method was carried out as described by Hankin et al. [12].

F: Xylanase production

Modified xylan agar medium [13].

3. Results and discussion

3.1 Chemistry of Wadi El Natrun

3.1.1 Chemical analysis of soil samples collected from around Wadi El Natrun lakes

From the collective data of soil chemical analysis from the eight lakes investigated, it is obvious that soil samples collected from around Al Gaar lake possessed the highest values of pH (9.05 ± 0.6), moisture content (23.1 ± 11.0), total soluble salts (30.5 ± 16.8), potassium (0.3 ± 0.1), carbonate (0.3 ± 0.03), bicarbonate (0.5 ± 0.03), and chloride (3.6 ± 2.5) compared to those recorded from soil collected from the other 7 lakes of Wadi El-Natrun. On the other hand, other parameters showed their peaks in different lakes, for example, organic matter (2.0 ± 2.4) in El Zugm Lake, calcium (0.2 ± 9.7×10^–3) in Hamra Lake, magnesium (0.04 ± 0.2) in Al Beida, and sodium (11.1 ± 8.4 mg/g) in Umm Risha (Table 1) [14].

	Al Gaar	Khadra	Al Beida	El Zugm	Hamra	Rosetta	Umm-Risha	Fasida
pH	9.05	8.2	8.7	8.5	8.7	8.4	8.5	8.3
OM (%)	0.3	1.2	1.4	2.0	1.4	1.3	1.7	0.7
MC (%)	23.1	3.1	6.4	3.9	3.0	4.5	8.9	5.4
TSS (mmol/L)	30.5	1.9	2.7	6.3	1.7	4.9	5.7	4.9
Na ^+	4.9 ± 3.1	3.9 ± 3.4	9.9 ± 8.7	4.7 ± 2.7	7.4 ± 8.9	3.5 ± 2.3	11.1 ± 8.36	10.1 ± 9.7
K^+	0.3 ± 0.1	0.14 ± 0.05	0.15 ± 0.1	0.16 ± 0.08	0.25 ± 0.1	0.1 ± 0.01	0.13 ± 0.03	0.2 ± 0.3
CO3^−2	0.3 ± 0.03	0.04 ± 0.02	0.01 ± 0.2	0.07 ± 0.07	0.26 ± 0.17	0.2 ± 0.3	0.1 ± 0.1	0.2 ± 0.3
HCO3^−	0.5 ± 0.5	0.1 ± 0.07	0.2 ± 0.2	0.1 ± 0.1	0.1 ± 0.08	0.26 ± 0.3	0.07 ± 0.04	0.2 ± 0.2
Ca^+2	0.01 ± 0.009	0.03 ± 0.03	0.03 ± 0.02	0.01 ± 0.1	0.2 ± 9.7x10^−3	0.02 ± 0.01	0.01 ± 0.01	0.008 ± 0.0
Mg + 2	0.023 ± 0.01	0.01 ± 0.01	0.04 ± 0.2	0.02 ± 0.01	0.03 ± 0.02	0.02 ± 0.01	0.03 ± 0.03	0.01 ± 1.4
Cl^−	3.6 ± 2.5	0.7 ± 0.1	3.4 ± 2.5	2 ± 2.2	1 ± 0.3	2.0 ± 2.5	0.9 ± 0.5	1.6 ± 0.8

Table 1.

Chemical analysis from soil samples collected from around Wadi El-Natrun lakes.

OM and TSS are calculated as percentage of the samples analyzed; Na⁺, K⁺, CO3⁻², HCO3⁻, Ca⁺², Mg⁺², and Cl are calculated as mg/ml.

3.2 Chemical analysis of mud samples collected from Wadi El-Natrun lakes

From the collective data of mud chemical analysis from the eight lakes investigated, it is evident that mud samples collected from Hamra Lake showed the highest levels of pH (9.4 ± 0.3), organic matter (0.7 ± 0.7), sodium (38.3 ± 17.9), carbonate (0.5 ± 0.15), bicarbonate (0.76 ± 0.7), magnesium (0.2 ± 0.3), and chloride (16.4 ± 11.2). On the other hand, other parameters showed their peaks in different lakes, for example, Moisture content (44.7 ± 28.5), potassium (2.3 ± 4.5) in El Zugm Lake, total soluble salts (47.7 ± 26.2) in Fasida, and calcium (0.1) in Al Beida and Fasida (Table 2) [14].

	Al Gaar	Khadra	Al Beida	El Zugm	Hamra	Rosetta	Umm-Risha	Fasida
pH	9.2	9.0	9.3	9.3	9.4	9.0	9.3	9.3
OM	0.5	0.3	0.6	0.3	0.7	0.3	0.4	0.23
MC	18.0	23.0	15	44.7	12.5	32.5	17.4	36.1
TSS	21	30.5	35.7	35.0	29.3	32.8	43.6	47.7
Na ^+	31.4 ± 27.0	23.8 ± 24.7	23.8 ± 25.0	20.2 ± 18.1	38.3 ± 17.9	15.5 ± 4.7	27.1 ± 13.6	28 ± 9
K^+	0.6 ± 0.6	0.3 ± 0.12	0.55 ± 0.56	2.3 ± 4.5	0.5 ± 0.1	0.2 ± 0.07	0.2 ± 0.2	0.22 ± 0.7
CO3^−2	0.02 ± 0.01	0.35 ± 0.03	0.4 ± 0.06	0.3 ± 0.04	0.45 ± 0.15	0.3 ± 0.02	0.4 ± 0.09	0.4 ± 0.07
HCO3^−	0.3 ± 0.2	0.5 ± 0.5	0.5 ± 0.4	0.18 ± 0.1	0.76 ± 0.7	0.2 ± 0.15	0.4 ± 0.36	0.4 ± 0.3
Ca^+2	0.01 ± 0.01	0.01 ± 0.009	0.1 ± 0.2	0.03 ± 0.01	0.02 ± 0.02	0.07 ± 0.1	0.01 ± 6.5^−3	0.1 ± 0.2
Mg^+2	0.03 ± 0.02	0.02 ± 0.01	0.05 ± 0.06	0.02 ± 0.03	0.2 ± 0.3	0.04 ± 0.04	0.02 ± 0.02	0.1 ± 0.2
Cl^−	13.3 ± 11.0	8.5 ± 13.2	6.3 ± 3.9	7.7 ± 4.7	16.4 ± 11.2	5.7±	13.6 ± 7.9	13.8 ± 3.2

Table 2.

Chemical analysis of mud samples collected from Wadi El-Natrun lakes.

OM and TSS are calculated as percentage of the samples analyzed; Na⁺, K⁺, CO3⁻², HCO3⁻, Ca⁺², Mg⁺², and Cl are calculated as mg/ml.

3.3 Chemical analysis of salt crust samples collected from Wadi El-Natrun lakes

From the collective data of chemical analysis of the salt crusts collected from the eight lakes investigated, it is obvious that salt samples showed the highest values of moisture content (25.5 ± 19.9) and calcium (0.4 ± 0.4) in El Zugm Lake, of total soluble salts (88.7 ± 10.8), sodium (51.9 ± 21.2), potassium (0.6 ± 0.4) and chloride (20.6 ± 10.4) in Al Gaar, and carbonate (0.5 ± 0.3) and magnesium (0.4 ± 0.02) in Al Beida Lake. On the other hand, other parameters showed their peaks in other lakes, for example, pH (9.8 ± 0.43) in Umm Risha, organic matter (0.6 ± 0.7) in Hamra, and bicarbonate (2.1 ± 2.5) in Khadra (Table 3) [14].

	Al Gaar	Khadra	Al Beida	El Zugm	Hamra	Rosetta	Umm-Risha	Fasida
pH	9.5	9.6	9.3	9.0	9.6	8.6	9.8	9.5
OM	0.17	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.6	0.085	0.09	0.3
MC	7.8	16.3	12.5	25.5	9.5	18.52	5.6	16.9
TSS	88.7 ± 10.8	88.6	80.9	86.45	86.5	88.2	87.2	88.7
Na ^+	51.9 ± 21.2	41.1 ± 22.3	43.6 ± 20.8	50.1 ± 16.9	48.4 ± 16.0	43.8 ± 23.7	33.8 ± 20.1	39.9 ± 17.4
K^+	0.6 ± 0.4	0.5 ± 0.2	0.3 ± 0.2	0.5 ± 0.3	0.55 ± 0.1	0.38 ± 0.05	0.2 ± 0.12	0.4 ± 0.07
CO3^−2	0.08 ± 0.05	0.4 ± 0.4	0.5 ± 0.3	0.4 ± 0.03	0.37 ± 0.07	0.38 ± 0.05	0.45 ± 0.16	0.38 ± 0.07
HCO3^−	0.4 ± 0.4	2.1 ± 2.5	1.8 ± 2.1	0.35 ± 0.2	1.1 ± 0.6	0.35 ± 0.26	1.55 ± 1.6	0.77 ± 0.47
Ca^+2	0.03 ± 0.02	0.02 ± 0.01	0.02 ± 6^−3	0.4 ± 0.4	0.07 ± 0.08	0.15 ± 0.18	0.02 ± 0.009	0.05 ± 0.04
Mg^+2	0.05 ± 0.04	0.04 ± 0.02	0.4 ± 0.02	0.2 ± 0.2	0.2 ± 0.2	0.26 ± 0.28	0.03 ± 0.03	0.05 ± 0.04
Cl^−	20.6 ± 10.4	18.8 ± 13.9	19.5 ± 10.1	17.1 ± 8	22.4 ± 9.05	11.3 ± 5.0	19.4 ± 18.8	17.9 ± 7.1

Table 3.

Chemical analysis from salt samples collected from Wadi El-Natrun lakes.

OM and TSS are calculated as percentage of the samples analyzed; Na⁺, K⁺, CO3⁻², HCO3⁻, Ca⁺², Mg⁺², and Cl are calculated as mg/ml.

3.4 Chemical analysis of water samples collected during spring 2007 from Wadi El-Natrun Lakes water

Chemical analysis revealed that water samples collected from Wadi El-Natrun Lakes were highly alkaline, with pH ranging from 8.4–9.5 and of high levels of total soluble salts, chlorides, sodium, and potassium. Water collected from El-Zugm Lake showed the highest levels of organic matter, sodium, calcium, magnesium, and chlorides among the eight lakes investigated. On the other hand, some parameters showed their peak in other lakes, for example, pH (9.4) and total soluble salts (87%) in Fasida (Table 4) [15].

	Al Gaar	Khadra	Al Beida	El Zugm	Hamra	Rosetta	Umm-Risha	Fasida
pH	8.8	9	9.0	8.4	9	9.1	9	9.5
OM	0.05	0.1	1.0	0.1	0.07	0.08	0.05	0.1
TSS	50	80	65	80.2	80	67	70.2	87
Na ^+	17	22	22	44	40	20	40	13
K^+	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.1	0.2
CO3^−2	0.2	1.1	1.3	0.2	0.5	0.3	1.0	0.2
HCO3^−	0.22	2	0.23	0.2	1.0	0.11	1.2	0.19
Ca^+2	0.02	0.04	0.1	0.5	0.01	0.1	0.01	0.1
Mg^+2	0.03	0.05	0.02	0.4	0.03	0.3	0.03	0.09
Cl^−	12	14	10.5	22	20.1	12.5	23	15.2

Table 4.

Chemical analysis of water samples collected from Wadi El-Natrun lakes.

OM and TSS are calculated as percentage of the samples analyzed; Na⁺, K⁺, CO3⁻², HCO3⁻, Ca⁺², Mg⁺², and Cl are calculated as mg/ml.

4. Fungi in Wadi El-Natrun lakes

4.1 In soil around Wadi El-Natrun

Soil samples collected from different lakes during different seasons harbored the highest number of genera and species 48 genera, 137 species, and four varieties. The widest spectrum of species was recorded on the control medium (69 species +2 varieties) and the lowest on 10% NaCl medium (36).

The genera Aspergillus, Fusarium, Penicillium, and Emericella were the most dominant with high proportions of propagules being recorded on all isolation media; however, Stachybotrys was also common but was not encountered on 10% NaCl, Eurotium was common on 40% sucrose and 10% NaCl media and Acremonium was common on alkaline media only.

Of Aspergillus, Aspergillus terreus followed by A. niger, Aspergillus flavus, and A. fumigatus gave the highest counts and frequencies on all isolation media; however, some other aspergilli were dominant on both acidic and alkaline media (A. sydowii and A. ustus), on 10% NaCl (A. carneus and A. sydowii), on 40% sucrose (A. sydowii), while A. ochraceus was dominant on the control medium as well as the salt and alkaline media.

Other most commonly encountered species comprised Emericella nidulans, E. quadrilineata, Fusarium solani, Penicillium puberulum, and Acremonium furcatum. On the other hand, F. subglutinans, Penicillium chrysogenum, and Stachybotrys chartarum were absent in NaCl medium, and Acremonium strictum was absent in 40% sucrose agar medium only.

It is worth mentioning that six out of the seven Acremonium species recorded from soil were isolated on the alkaline media with more propagules than on the other five isolation media used, however, five species were recorded on acidic media, two on 10% NaCl, and only one on 40% sucrose. This implies that this fungus prefers alkaline media rather than other media.

1. The current results show that Acremonium fusidioides, Acrophialophora fusispora, Aspergillus deflectus, Cladosporium oxysporum, Cochliobolus tuberculatus, Curvularia penniseti, Eurotium amstelodami, E. repens, Fusarium nygamai, Gliocladium solani, Humicola insolens, Monodictys castaneae, and Scopulariopsis brevicaulis were isolated from soil on one or both acidic media but not on alkaline media.

Moreover, some species could be isolated on medium of pH 10 (Acremonium blochii, Microdochium nivale, Fusarium lateritium, Penicillium variabile, Mucor circinelloides, Penicillium verrucosum, Pseudoallescheria boydii, Scytalidium lignicola, and Trimmatostroma betulinum) or pH 13 (Aspergillus cremeus and Microascus trigonosporus) or on both pHs (A. hyalinulum, A. roseulum and Paecilomyces variotii), however, these species were not isolated on both acidic media (adjusted at pH 5 and pH 4).

Some species were recorded only on NaCl medium namely Cochliobolus monoceras, Scopulariopsis halophilica, S. carbonaria, and Ulocladium consortiale or on 40% sucrose medium (Aspergillus candidus and Gliocladium catenulatum) (Tables 5 and 6) [14, 16].

Fungal taxa	Soil	Mud	Salts	Water	Air
Acremonium Link	+	+	+	+	+
A. blochii (Matruchot) W. Gams	+
A. furcatum F. & V. Moreau ex W. Gams	+	+	+	+	+
A. curvulum W. gams
A. fusidioides (Nicot) Gams	+
A. hyalinulum (Sacc.) W. Gams		+	+	+
A. kiliense Grütz	+			+
A. strictum W. Gams	+	+	+	+
A. roseulum (G.S.M.) W. Gams	+		+
Acremonium spp.	+	+	+	+
A. fusispora (Saksena) Samson	+	+
Alternaria Nees	+
A. alternata (Fries) Keissler	+		+		+
A. chlamydospora Mouchacca					+
A. tenuissima (Kunze: Pers.) Wiltshire	+		+	+	+
Alternaria spp.	+	+	+		+
Aspergillus Mich. ex fr.	+	+	+	+	+
A. aculeatus Lizuka	+	+	+
A. aegyptiacus Moubasher and Moustafa			+
A. aureolatus Munt., Cvet. & Bata	+	+
A. carneus (V. Tiegh.) Blochwitz	+
A. candidus Link	+	+	+
A. carbonarius (Bainier) Thom	+	+	+
A. cremeus	+
A. deflectus Fennell and Raper	+	+
A. flavus Link	+	+	+	+	+
A. flavus var. columnaris Raper and Fennell	+				+
A. fumigatus Fresenius	+	+	+	+	+
A. japonicus Saito			+
A. niger Van Tieghem	+	+	+	+	+
A. ochraceus Wilhelm	+	+	+	+	+
A. parasiticus Speare	+			+
A. parvulus Smith	+	+
A. phoenicis (Cda.) Thom		+	+
A. pulverulentus (McAlpine) Thom	+
A. puniceus	+		+
A. sydowii (Baineir & Sartory) Thom and Church	+	+	+	+	+
A. terreus Thom	+	+	+	+	+
A. terreus var. africanus Raper and Fennell	+
A. versicolor (Vuillemin) Tiraboschi	+
A. ustus (Bainier) Thom and Church	+			+
Botryodiplodia theobromae Patouillard	+
Botryotrichum Saccardo and Marchal	+
B. piluliferum Saccardo and Marchal	+
B. atrogriseum	+
Botrytis Micheli ex Pers.	+
B. cinerea Persoon	+
Botrytis sp.			+
Chatomium Kunze	+			+
C. globosum Kunze	+			+
C. olivaceum Cooke and Ellis	+
Chatomium spp.	+
Cladosporium link	+	+	+	+	+
C. cladosporioides (Fres.) de Vries	+	+	+	+	+
C. herbarum (Pers.) Link ex S. F. Gray	+		+		+
C. oxysporum Berkeley and Curtis	+		+		+
C. sphaerospermum Penzig	+	+	+		+
Cladosporium spp.	+		+		+
Cochliobolus Drechsler	+	+	+	+	+
C. australiensis (Tsudal and Yeyama) Alcorn	+		+
C. tuberculatus Sivanesan	+	+	+	+	+
C. spicifer Nelson	+
Cochliobolus sp.
Curvularia
C. lunata var. aeria (Batista, Lima, and Vasconcelos) M. B. Ellis	+
C. penniseti (Mitra) Boedijn	+
Cunninghamella echinulata (Thaxt.) Thaxt. ex	+
Blakeslee
Cylindrocarpon sp.	+
E.nigrum Link			+	+	+
Emericella Berkeley and Broome	+	+	+	+	+
E. acristata Fennell and Raper	+
E. nidulans var. lata Thom and Raper	+	+	+
E. nidulans(Eidam) Winter	+	+	+
E. quadrilineata Thom and Raper	+	+	+	+	+
E. variecolor Berkeley and Broome	+		+
Emericella spp.	+				+
Eurotium
E. chevalieri Mangin	+		+	+
E. amstelodami Mangin	+
E. repens De Bary	+		+		+
Eurotium spp.	+				+
Fennellia Wiley and Simmons	+	+
F. flavipes Wiley and Simmons		+
F. nivea (Wiley and Simoons) Samson	+	+
Fusarium Link	+	+	+	+	+
F. camptoceras Wellenweber and Reinking emend.	+
Marasas & Logrieco
F. chlamydosporum Wellenweber and Reinking	+
F. equiseti (Corda) Saccardo	+
F. lateritium Nees	+	+
F. nygamai Burgess and Trimboli	+
F. oxysporum Schlechtendahl emend. Snyder and	+		+
Hansen
F. poae (Peck) Wollenweber	+
F. proliferatum (Matsushima) Nirenberg	+
F. sambucinum Füchel	+		+
F. semitectum Berkeley and Ravenel	+	+	+
F. solani (Martius) Appel and Wollenweber emend.	+	+	+	+	+
Snyder and Hansen
F. sporotrichioides Sherbakoff	+
F. subglutinans (Wollenweber and Reinking)	+		+	+
Nelson, Toussoun and Marasas
F. sterilihyphosum Britz, Marasas, and Wingfield		+
F. tricinctum(Corda) Saccardo	+
F. tumidum Sherb.	+
F. udum Butler			+
F. verticillioides (Saccardo) Nirenberg	+	+	+
Fusarium spp.	+
Gliocladium Corda	+		+
G. catenulatum Gilman and Abboll	+
G. roseum Bainier	+		+
G. solani (Harting) Petch	+
Gliocladium spp.
Graphium Corda	+				+
G. penicillioides Corda	+				+
Graphium spp.	+
Humicola Traaen	+	+	+	+
H. fuscoatra Traaen	+	+
H. grisea Traaen	+	+	+	+
H. insolens Cooney and Emerson	+	+	+
Humicola spp.	+
Hypomyces chrysospermus Tulasne	+
Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid	+				+
Memnoniella echinata (Riv.) Galloway					+
M. nivale (Fr.) Ces.	+
M. trigonosporus Emmons et Dodge	+				+
Myrothecium Tode	+	+
M. roridum Tode ex Steudel	+
M. striatisporum Preston	+
M. verrucoria (Albertini and Schweinitz) Ditmer ex	+	+
Steudel
M. castaneae (Wallr.) Hughes	+
M. circinelloides Van Tiegh	+
Neurospora Crassa Shear and Dodge	+
Nigrospora
N. sphaerica (Sacc.) Mason	+		+		+
N. oryzae
Paecilomyces Bainier	+		+
Paecilomyces lilacinus (Thom) Samson	+		+
P. variotii Bainier	+		+
Penicillium Link	+	+	+	+	+
P. aurantiogriseum Dierckx	+	+		+
P. brevicompactum Dierchx		+
P. chrysogenum Thom	+	+	+	+	+
P. citrinum Thom	+
P. crustosum Thom		+	+
P. duclauxii Delacroix	+	+	+		+
P. echinulatum Raper and Thom ex Fassatiová		+
P. expansum Link	+	+		+
P. funiculosum Thom	+	+	+
P. griseofulvum Dierckx	+		+
P. janczewskii Zaleski		+
P. islandicum Sopp	+
P. oxalicum Currie and Thom		+	+	+
P. pinophilum Hedgcock	+	+
P. puberulum Bainier	+	+	+	+
P. purpurgenum Stoll	+	+	+
P. variabile Sopp	+
P. verrucosum Peyronel				+
P. viridicatium Westling			+
Pencillium spp.	+	+	+		+
Phialophora sp.	+
Phoma Saccardo	+
Phoma herbarum Westendorp	+	+	+		+
Phoma sp.	+
Pochonia sp	+
P. boydii (Shear) McGinnis et al.	+
Rhizopus Ehrenberg	+
R. oryzae Went and Gerlings	+
R stolonifer (Ehrenb.) Lind	+
Rhizopus sp.	+
Scopulariopsis Bainier	+		+	+
S. brevicaulis (Saccardo) Bainier	+
S. brumptii Salvanet - Duval	+		+	+
S. carbonaria Morton and Smith	+
S. halophilica Tubaki	+
S. sphaerospora	+
Scopulariopsis spp	+
S. lignicola Pesante	+
Setosphaeria Leonard and Suggs	+
S. holmii	+
S. monoceras Alcorn	+
S. rostrata Leonard	+
Setosphaeria sp.	+
Stachybotrys Corda	+
S. chartarum (Ehrenb. Ex Lindt) Hughes	+		+		+
S. kampalensis Hansf.	+
S. coccosporum Meyer and Nicot				+
Stemphylium Wallroth
S. botryosum Wallroth	+				+
Stemphylium spp.
Talaromyces C. R. Benjamin	+
Talaromyces helicaus (Raper and Fennell)	+
Talaromyces sp.	+
Thermoascus auranticus Miehe	+				+
Torula
T. herbarum (Persoon) Link	+				+
Torula sp.					+
Trichoderma spp. (Persoon) Harz	+	+	+	+
Trichothecium roseum (Persoon) Link ex Gray	+
Trichurus Spiralis Hasselbring	+
T. betulinum (Corda) Hughes	+
Ulocladium Preuss	+			+	+
U. atrum Preuss	+
U. botrytis Preuss	+			+	+
U. consortiale (Thϋmen) Simmons	+
U. oudemansii	+
Ulocladium spp.	+
YEASTS	+			+	+
No. of genera (50)	48	13	18	16	21
No. of species (157 species + 4 varieties)	137 and 4 varieties	47 + 1 variety	59 + 1 variety	33	34 + 1 variety

Table 5.

Summarized data of fungal taxa recorded from various substrates in different lakes of Wadi El-Natrun.

(+) indicate the presence of the fungal species in this substrate.

Fungal taxa	Cz	40% sucrose	10% NaCl	pH 4	pH 5	pH 10	pH 13
Acremonium Link	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
A. blochii (Matruchot) W. Gams						+
A. curvulum W. Gams	+
A. furcatum F. and V. Moreau ex W. Gams	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
A. fusioides(Nicot) Gams				+	+
A. hyalinulum (Sacc.) W. Gams						+	+
A. kiliense Grütz	+			+	+	+
A. strictum W. Gams	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
A. roseulum (G.S.M.) W. Gams	+					+	+
Acremonium spp.	+	+		+	+	+	+
A. fusispora (Saksena) Samson				+	+		+
Alternaria Nees	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
A. alternata (Fries) Keissler	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
A. chlamydospora Mouchacca			+
A. tenuissima (Kunze: Pers.) Wiltshire	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Alternaria spp.	+	+		+	+
Aspergillus Mich. ex Fr.	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
A. aculeatus Lizuka				+	+	+
A. aegyptiacus Moubasher and Moustafa	+
A. aureolatus Munt. Cvet. and Bata	+
A. carneus (V. Tiegh.) Blochwitz		+	+
A. candidus Link		+
A. carbonarius (Bainier) Thom				+	+	+
A. aculeatus					+	+	+
A. cremeus							+
A. deflectus Fennell and Raper	+			+
A. flavus Link	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
A. flavus var. columnaris Raper and Fennell	+
A. fumigatus Fresenius	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
A. japonicus Saito		+			+
A. niger Van Tieghem	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
A. ochraceus Wilhelm	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
A. parasiticus Speare	+
A. parvulus Smith	+
A. phoenicis (Cda.) Thom	+
A. pulverulentus (McAlpine) Thom	+
A. puniceus	+
A. sydowii (Bainier and Sartory) Thom and Church	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
A. terreus Thom	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
A. terreus var. africanus Raper and Fennell	+
A. versicolor (Vuillemin) Tiraboschi		+
A. ustus (Bainier) Thom and Church	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
B. theobromae Patouillard				+
Botryotrichum Saccardo and Marchal				+		+
B. piluliferum Saccardo and Marchal				+		+
B. atrogriseum	+
Botrytis Michel ex Pers.	+	+
B. cinerea Persoon	+
Botrytis sp.	+	+
Chatomium Kunze	+	+	+	+	+	+
C. globosum Kunze	+	+	+	+	+	+
C. olivaceum Cooke and Ellis			+	+	+
Chatomium spp.	+
Cladosporium link	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
C. cladosporioides (Fres.) de Vries	+	+	+	+		+	+
C. herbarum (Pers.) Link ex S. F. Gray	+	+	+
C. oxysporum Berkeley and Curtis	+	+	+			+	+
C. sphaerospermum Penzig	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Cladosporium spp.	+	+
C. Drechsler	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
C. australiensis (Tsudal and Yeyama) Alcorn	+	+		+	+	+	+
C. tuberculatus Sivanesan	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
C. spicifer Nelson	+
Cochliobolus sp.						+
Curvularia		+		+
C. lunata var. aeria (Balista, Lima and Vasconcelos) M. B. Ellis		+
C. penniseti (Mitra) Boedijn				+
C. echinulata (Thaxt.) Thaxt. ex						+
Blakeslee
Cylindrocarpon sp.	+	+
E. nigrum Link	+	+	+
Emericella Berkeley and Broome	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
E. acristata Fennell and Raper	+	+
E. nidulans var. lata Subramanian	+	+		+
E. nidulans (Eidam) Vuillemin	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
E. quadrilineata (Thom and Raper) Benjamin	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
E. variecolor Berkeley and Broome	+			+		+
Emericella spp.	+
Eurotium Link	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
E. chevalieri Mangin	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
E. amstelodami Mangin		+	+	+	+
E. repens De Bary		+
Eurotium spp.	+	+
Fennellia Wiley and Simmons			+	+		+
F. flavipes Wiley and Simmons				+		+
F. nivea (Wiley and Simoons) Samson		+	+
Fusarium Link	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
F. camptoceras Wellenweber and Reinking				+		+	+
emend. Marasas and Logrieco
F. chlamydosporum Wellenweber and Reinking	+			+	+	+	+
F. equiseti (Corda) Saccardo	+
F. lateritium Nees		+	+			+
F. nygamai Burgess and Trimboli					+
F. oxysporum Schlechtendahl emend. Snyder	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
and Hansen
F. poae (Peck) Wollenweber	+
F. proliferatum (Matsushima) Nirenberg	+			+	+		+
F. sambucinum Füchel	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
F. semitectum Berkeley and Ravenel	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
F. solani (Martius) Appel and Wollenweber	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
emend. Snyder and Hansen
F. sporotrichioides Sherbakoff		+
F. subglutinans (Wollenweber and Reinking)	+	+		+	+	+	+
Nelson, Toussoun and Marasas
F. sterilihyphosum Britz, Marasas, and		+
Wingfield
F. tricinctum(Corda) Saccardo	+	+
F. udum Butler	+
F. verticillioides (Saccardo) Nirenberg	+	+
Fusarium spp.				+		+	+
Gliocladium Corda	+	+		+	+	+	+
G. catenulatum Gilman and Abboll		+
G. roseum Bainier	+			+	+	+	+
G. solani (Harting) Petch				+	+
Gliocladium spp.		+			+	+
Graphium Corda		+			+	+
G. penicillioides Corda		+			+	+
Graphium spp.
Humicola Traaen	+	+		+	+	+	+
H. fuscoatra Traaen	+			+	+	+
H. grisea Traaen	+	+		+	+	+	+
H. insolens Cooney and Emerson		+		+	+
Humicola spp.	+				+
H. chrysospermus Tulasne				+
M. phaseolina (Tassi) Goid	+			+	+	+
M. echinata (Rivolta) Galloway	+
M. nivale (Fr.) Ces.						+
M. trigonosporus Emmons et Dodge	+						+
M. Tode	+	+		+	+	+	+
M. roridum Tode ex Steudel	+	+		+	+	+	+
M. striatisporum Preston	+
M. verrucoria (Albertini and Schweinitz)	+	+		+	+	+	+
Ditmer ex Steudel
M. castaneae (Wallr.) Hughes				+
M. circinelloides Van Tiegh						+
Neurospora Crassa Shear and Dodge		+	+	+	+	+	+
Nigrospora
N. sphaerica (Saccardo) Mason		+	+	+	+	+	+
N. oryzae	+
Paecilomyces Bainier
P. lilacinus (Thom) Samson				+
P. variotii Bainier		+				+	+
Paecilomyces spp.				+	+	+
Penicillium Link	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
P. aurantiogriseum Dierckx		+		+	+	+
P. brevicompactum Dierchx						+
P. chrysogenum Thom	+	+		+	+	+	+
P. citrinum Thom		+	+			+	+
P. crustosum Thom		+			+
P. duclauxii Delacroix	+	+		+	+	+	+
P. echinulatum Raper and Thom ex Fassatiová
P. expansum Link		+		+	+	+	+
P. funiculosum Thom	+	+		+	+	+	+
P. griseofulvum Dierckx					+
P. janczewskii Zaleski		+
P. oxalicum Currie and Thom	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
P. pinophilum Hedgcock	+
P. puberulum Bainier	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
P. purpurgenum Stoll		+		+	+	+	+
P. variabile Sopp						+
P. verrucosum Peyronel						+
P. viridicatium Westling				+	+	+	+
Pencillium spp.	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Phialophora sp.	+
Phoma Saccardo	+			+	+	+	+
Phoma herbarum Westendorp	+			+	+	+	+
Phoma sp.	+
Pochonia sp.	+
P. boydii (Shear) McGinnis et al.						+
Rhizopus Ehrenberg		+		+		+	+
R. oryzae Went and Gerlings		+		+		+	+
R stolonifer (Ehrenb.) Lind							+
Rhizopus sp.	+
Scopulariopsis Bainier
S. brevicaulis (Sacc.) Bainier	+	+	+	+	+	+
S. brumptii Salvanet - Duval		+	+	+	+		+
S. carbonaria Morton and Smith			+
S. halophilica Tubaki			+
S. sphaerospora							+
Scopulariopsis sp.
S. lignicola Pesante	+	+	+				+
Setosphaeria Leonard and Suggs	+	+		+	+	+	+
S. holmii	+
S. monoceras Alcorn			+
S. rostrata Leonard	+	+		+	+	+	+
Setosphaeria sp.	+
Stachybotrys Corda	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
S. chartarum (Ehrenb. Ex Lindt) Hughes	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
S. kampalensis Hansf.	+			+	+
S. coccosporum Meyer and Nicot				+
Stemphylium Wallroth	+	+
S. botryosum Wallroth	+	+
Stemphylium spp.
Talaromyces C. R. Benjamin	+				+	+
T. helicaus (Raper and Fennell)	+				+	+
Talaromyces spp.	+
Thermoascus aurantiacus Miehe		+		+
Torula herbarum (Pers.) Link	+
Torula sp.	+
Trichoderma spp. (Persoon) Harz	+	+		+	+	+	+
T. roseum (Pers.) Link ex Gray		+
T. Spiralis Hasselbring							+
T. betulinum (Corda) Hughes						+
Ulocladium Preuss	+	+	+		+	+	+
U. atrum Preuss	+
U. botrytis Preuss	+	+	+		+	+	+
U. consortiale (Thϋmen) Simmons			+
Ulocladium spp.	+
Yeasts					+	+
No. of genera (50)	32	31	17	30	24	33	24
No. of species (157 species +4 varieties)	95	76	46	77	69	77	59

Table 6.

Summarized data of fungal taxa recorded on different media Wadi El-Natrun from various substrates.

(+) indicate the (presence) of the fungal species in this medium.

4.2 In mud

Mud samples collected from different lakes during different seasons contributed much narrow spectrum of genera and species (13 and 48) compared to that recorded from soil (48 and 137 + 4 varieties). The widest spectrum of species was recorded on 40% sucrose and medium adjusted at pH 10 (25 species), and the narrowest on 10% NaCl (3).

Aspergillus was the most dominant genus possessing the highest propagules (over 75% of the total CFUs) on all isolation media; however, Penicillium was also dominant on 40% sucrose, acidic, and alkaline media while Fusarium was dominant on 40% sucrose and alkaline media, Emericella and Eurotium on 40% sucrose and Acremonium on alkaline media only.

Aspergillus showed its peak in spring 2007 in Al Gaar on all isolation media except on 10% NaCl medium in Fasida Lake.

Of Aspergillus, A. terreus followed by A. fumigatus, A. flavus, and A. niger were the most common on all isolation media; however, some other Aspergilli were dominant on the control, acidic and alkaline media (A. ochraceus), on 40% sucrose (A. candidus, A. sydowii) and on alkaline media (A. carbonarius).

1. Other most commonly encountered species comprised F. solani and P. chrysogenum on all media but not encountered on 10% NaCl medium. On the other hand, E. nidulans was absent on medium adjusted at PH10 and 10% NaCl medium while P. puberulum was absent on control and 10% NaCl media.

2. Interestingly, the three Acremonium species and some unidentified species recorded from mud were isolated on alkaline media with more propagules than on the other five isolation media used; however, two species were recorded on acidic media and only one on control, 40% sucrose and 10% NaCl media.

3. It is worthy to mention that some fungal species were recorded on only 40% sucrose (A. candidus, E. nidulans var. lata, E. amstelodami, E. repens, Fennellia nivea, Fusarium sterilihyphosum, and Humicola fuscoatra), acidic media (H. insolens, Penicillium echinulatum, P. expansum, and P. janczewskii), or alkaline media (A. hyalinulum, A. fusispora, Myrothecium verrucaria, Fusarium semitectum, F. subglutinans, Penicillium brevicompactum, and P. griseofulvum) but not on the other isolation media used (Tables 5 and 6) [17, 18, 19].

4.3 In salt crusts

Aspergillus (54.6–86.1% of the total propagules) followed by Penicillium (3.6–6.8%) were the most dominant genera with the highest propagules on all isolation media, however, both were not encountered on 10% NaCl. Fusarium and Emericella were common on two isolation media (pH 5 and 40% sucrose for Emericella, control and 40% sucrose for Fusarium) while Acremonium was common on alkaline media only.

Of Aspergillus, A. flavus, A. niger, A. terreus, and A. fumigatus were the most common on all isolation media, however, some other aspergilli were dominant on both acidic and alkaline media (A. phoenicis) or on 40% sucrose (A. sydowii).

Other most commonly encountered species comprised F. solani and P. chrysogenum on all media but not encountered on 10% NaCl. P. puberulum was dominant on all media except the control and 10% NaCl media.

It is worth mentioning that out of five Acremonium species (four identified and one unidentified) recorded from salt, four were isolated on alkaline media while only three on the control medium and one was on 40% sucrose medium. Acremonium contributed higher propagules on both alkaline media (7.1% and 38.4 of the total CFUs) than on other media.

Some fungal species were recorded on 40% sucrose agar only (A. candidus, Emericella variecolor, and F. nivea), on acidic media (Aspergillus puniceus, Cochliobolus australiensis, Fusarium camptoceras, Paecilomyces lilacenus, and Penicillium crustosum), or on alkaline media (yeasts, Cladosporium sphaerospermum, P. variotii, Scopulariopsis sphaerospora, and A. hyalinulum) but not on other isolation media (Tables 5 and 6) [17, 18, 19].

4.4 In water

Aspergillus and Acremonium followed by Penicillium were the most dominant genera possessing the highest proportions of propagules on all isolation media except on 10% NaCl. On the other hand, only species of the genera Scopulariopsis and Acremonium were isolated on 10% NaCl medium.

Aspergillus showed its peak in Al Beida during winter 2007 on both acidic and alkaline media while in spring 2007 on control medium (from Khadra Lake) and on 40% sucrose (from El Zugm Lake).

Of Aspergillus, A. terreus followed by A. flavus and A. niger were the most common on all isolation media. On the other hand, A. ochraceus was dominant in acidic media only.

Other most commonly encountered species, P. chrysogenum and P. puberulum were encountered on all media but not on 10% NaCl medium.

Some species were isolated on one medium but not on the others: S. halophilica (on 10% NaCl), E. quadrilineata (on 40% sucrose), Staphylotrichum coccosporum (on medium adjusted at pH 4), and A. hyalinulum (on alkaline media) (Tables 5 and 6) [15].

4.5 In air

Aeromycobiota were represented by 21genera and 35 species with the widest spectrum of species being recorded on 40% sucrose medium (28) and the lowest on 10% NaCl medium (18).

The dematiaceous hyphomyceteous genera Cladosporium and Alternaria were the most dominant followed by Aspergillus and possessed the highest number of propagules on all isolation media.

Cladosporium cladosporioides, Alternaria tenuissima, A. alternata followed by A. flavus, A. niger, and A. terreus were the most common in all isolation media.

Other most commonly encountered species were related to dematiaceous hyphomycetes and these are C. oxysporum, Epicoccum nigrum, S. chartarum, and Ulocladium botrytis on all isolation media. Stemphylium botryosum was also dominant in control and 40% sucrose media, but was not encountered in 10% NaCl medium (Tables 5 and 6) [17].

5. Enzymes produced by the most common fungi

Total of 40 isolates of the most commonly encountered species from different sources, lakes, and isolation media were tested for their capabilities of producing cellulase, protease, lipase, phosphatase, xylanase, and pectinase enzymes. The following observations could be outlined:

Most isolates had the capabilities of producing cellulase (96%), protease (86.8%), lipase (92.3%), and phosphatase (100%) but with different degrees; however, only three out of 20 isolates tested were xylanolytic (15%) and only one out of 38 was pectinolytic.

Total of 36 isolates showed high-producing abilities of either phosphatase (27 isolates), lipase (21), cellulase (11), protease (7) and xylanase (2) on different screening media (Table 7).

Some of these isolates were high producers for more than one enzyme, on one or more of the screening media.

5.1 Of the high cellulase producers

• Some isolates produced cellulase on one medium only, for example, the control medium (Alternaria alternata AUMC No5666), medium adjusted at PH4 (A. terreus AUMC No5675, C. cladosporioides AUMC Nos 5681 and 5683), or medium supplemented with 10% NaCl (E. nidulans AUMC No5685, F. solani AUMC No5691, and C. australiensis AUMC No5694).

• Some isolates produced cellulase on the control medium, medium supplemented with 10% NaCl in addition to the acidic (E. nidulans AUMC No 5687) or on control, 10% NaCl and alkaline media (C. cladosporioides AUMC No. 5684).

• Some isolates produced cellulase on the control, acidic, alkaline, and NaCl media (E. nidulans AUMC Nos 5686 and 5689) (Table 7) [20, 21].

Species	Source	Lake name	Isolation medium	No.	Cellulase	Protease	Lipase	Phosphatase	Xylanase
Alternaria alternata	Soil	Al Gaar	Cz (pH 13)	3469				pH 4, pH 10,10%NaCl
	Soil	El Zugm	Cz (10% Nacl)	4001	C
	Mud	Al Gaar	Cz (40% S)	952				C, pH 10,10%NaCl
	Water	Khadra	Cz (PH5)	3869				pH 4, pH 10
A. flavus	Soil	Umm Risha	Cz (pH 13)	3776			C	pH 10,10%NaCl
	Soil	khadra	Cz (pH 4)	3059			C	pH 4, pH 10,10%NaCl
	Soil	Hamra	Cz (40% S)	5				pH 4
A. terreus	Air		Cz	205			C	C,pH 4,10%NaC l
	Mud	khadra	Cz (pH 3)	3035
	Soil	El Zugm	Cz (pH 3))	3437			C	pH 4,10%NaCl
	Soil	Hamra	Cz (pH 3)	3913	pH 4			pH 4,10%NaCl
	Water		Cz (pH 3)	3300			C, pH 4, pH 10,10%NaCl	C, pH 4, 10%NaCl
	Salts	Umm Risha	Cz (pH 13)	3310			C, pH 4, pH 10,10%NaCl
Chatomium	Soil	El Zugm	Cz (PH5)	4205
	Soil	Al Beida	Cz (PH10)	3939				C, pH 4, 10%NaCl
C. cladosporioides	Soil	Umm Risha	Cz (pH 13)	3783			pH 4	10%NaCl
	Soil	UmmRisha	Cz (pH 4)	3779	pH 4	C		C, pH 4
	Soil		Cz (pH 4)	3789	pH 4	C	C
	Soil	Al Gaar	Cz (40% S)	1240	C,pH 10,10			pH 4, 10%NaCl
E. nidulans	Soil	El Zugm	Cz (10% Nacl)	4060	10% NaCl			C, 10%NaCl	c
	Soil	Umm Risha	Cz (pH 4)	3339	C, pH 4, pH 10,10%	C, pH 4	C, pH 4
	Soil	Al Gaar	Cz (pH 13)	3563	C, pH 4,		pH 4, pH 10	C, pH 4,
					10%NaCl			pH 10,10%NaCl
	Soil		Cz (pH 4)	3003			C, pH 4	C, pH 4	c
	Water	Al Gaar	Cz (Ph13)	3594	C, pH 4,	C,
					pH 10,10%	pH 4
					NaCl
	ce	name	medium
F. Solani	Soil	Al Beida	Cz (pH 4)	3877			C, pH 4
	Soil	Hamra	Cz (pH 13)	3946	10%NaCl
	Soil	Umm Risha	Cz (10% Nacl)	4046			pH 13	PH 10
	Salts	Khadra	Cz (40% S)	76				C
Cochliobolus austaliensis	Soil	Hamra	Cz (pH 4)	3560	10%NaCl	10% NaCl		C, pH 10
	Soil	Hamra	Cz (pH 13)	3598			C, pH 4	pH 10,10%NaCl
	Salts	Hamra	Cz (pH 13)	3810			pH 4	C, pH 10,10%NaCl
Myrothium verrucoria	Soil	Hamra	Cz (pH 4)	3557		C	C
	Soil	Khadra	CZ (pH 13)	3950				pH 10
	Salts	Hamra	Cz (PH10)	3590		pH 4	pH 4
P. chrysogenum	Soil	Al Gaar	Cz (pH 4)	3079			C	C, pH 10,10%NaCl
	Soil	Al Beida	Cz (pH 13)	3681
	Soil	Umm Risha	Cz (40% S)	753			C	pH 4
	Water		Cz (pH 4)	3858			pH 4	C, pH 10
	Mud	Khadra	Cz (PH5)	3155			C	C, pH 4,10%NaCl

Table 7.

The highly producing isolates for cellulose, protease, lipase, phosphatase, and/or xylanase enzymes on different screening media.

Screening media: C = control, pH 4 = medium adjusted at pH 4, pH 10 = medium adjusted at pH 10, pH 13 = medium adjusted at pH 13, and 10% NaCl = medium supplemented with 10% NaCl.

5.2 Of the high protease producers some isolates showed this property on either

• Control medium (three isolates belong to C. cladosporioides AUMC Nos 5681 and 5683 and M. verrucaria AUMC No5697)

• Acidic media (1, M. verrucaria AUMC No 5699)

• Medium supplemented with 10% NaCl (1, C. australiensis AUMC No 5694)

• Both the control and the acidic media (two isolates assigned to E. nidulans AUMC Nos 5686 and 5689) (Table 7) [20, 21].

5.3 Of the 21 highly lipase-producing strains, some provided this character on

• The control medium (nine isolates, A. flavus AUMC No. 5669 and 5670, A. terreus AUMC No. 5672 and 5674, C. cladosporioides AUMC No 5683, M. verrucaria AUMC No. 5697 and P. chrysogenum AUMC Nos 5700, 5702, and 5704)

• The acidic media (four isolates, C. cladosporioides AUMC5 No. 5680, C.australiensis AUMC No. 5696, M. verrucaria AUMC No. 5699, and P. chrysogenum AUMC No. 5703).

• Alkaline media (F. solani AUMC No. 5692)

• Both the control and the acidic media (E. nidulans AUMC Nos 5686 and 5688, F. solani AUMC No. 5690, and C. australiensis AUMC No. 5695)

• Acidic and alkaline media (E. nidulans AUMC No. 5687)

• Control, acidic, alkaline, and salt media (A. terreus AUMC Nos 5676 and 5677) (Table 7) [20, 21].

5.4 The high phosphatase production has been proved on one (or more) medium types

• F. solani AUMC No. 5693 (on the control medium)

• C. cladosporioides AUMC No. 5680 (on 10% NaCl medium)

• A. flavus AUMC No. 5671 and P. chrysogenum AUMC No. 5702 (on acidic medium)

• F. solani AUMC No. 5692 and M. verrucaria AUMC No. 5698 (on alkaline media)

• C. cladosporioides AUMC No. 5681 and E. nidulans AUMC No. 5688 (on the control and the acidic media)

• C. australiensis AUMC No. 5694 and P. chrysogenum AUMC No. 5703 (on the control and the alkaline media), E. nidulans AUMC No. 5685 (on the control and NaCl media)

• Alternaria alternata AUMC No. 5668 (on acidic and alkaline media)

• A. terreus AUMC No. 5674 and 5675 and C. cladosporioides AUMC No. 5684 (on acidic and salt media)

• A. flavus AUMC No. 5669 (on alkaline and NaCl media)

• A. terreus AUMC Nos 5672 and 5676, Chaetomium globosum AUMC No. 5679, and P. chrysogenum AUMC No. 5704 (on the control, acidic, and NaCl media)

• Alternaria alternata AUMC No. 5667, C. australiensis AUMC No. 5696, and P. chrysogenum AUMC No. 5700 (on the control, alkaline, and NaCl media)

• Alternaria alternata AUMC No. 5665 and A. flavus AUMC No. 5670 (on acid, alkaline, and NaCl media)

• E. nidulans AUMC No. 5687 (on the control, acidic, alkaline, and NaCl media) (Table 7) [20, 21].

5.5 The highly xylanolytic strains were demonstrated only by E. nidulans AUMC Nos. 5685 and 5688

(Table 7) [20, 21].

6. Conclusions

Survey of mycobiota of Wadi El-Natrun depression, western desert of Egypt gave in general, 159 species; in addition, four species varieties assigned to 50 genera were recovered during the current investigation. The widest spectra of species were recorded in the genera Aspergillus (22 species +2 varieties), Penicillium (19), Fusarium (17), and Acremonium (8). The widest spectrum of species was recorded in El Zugm Lake (82 species) while the lowest was in Fasida (51). Also, the control medium contributed the widest spectrum of species (95 species) while 10% NaCl medium had the lowest (46 species), with the wider spectrum also being recorded in winter and spring seasons and the narrowest during summer.