Keratinophilic Fungi: Characterization of Keratinophilic Fungi in Soil of Semi Arid Region of India

Soil has long been recognized as a natural habitat for kratinophilic fungi. They are scavengers and serve to break the complex organic compounds including the keratin containing material. Keratinophilic fungi has high industrial and medicinal potential and abundance in the soil, most of these fungi are neither deposited in Indian Culture Collections nor available with the scientists working on them. Therefore, there is an urgent need to isolate and conserve these fungi for exploitation of their biotechnological potential. Non-pathogenic strains of ketatinophilic fungi with high production rate of keratinase can be a very important tool in the eco-friendly bioremediation technologies.