Screening, Isolation and Identification of Cellulolytic Chaetomium species Collected from Deteriorating Cellulosic Samples

This research focuses on the screening, identification and evaluation of cellulolytic activity exhibited by different species of Chaetomium, a filamentous fungus known for its diverse enzymatic capabilities. Cellulose, a complex polysaccharide found in plant cell walls, is a promising feedstock for bioenergy and biorefinery applications. Different microorganisms, especially filamentous fungi, play an important role in the breakdown of cellulose using cellulase enzymes.The fungal cellulase ismore thermostable that makes them a better choice for industrial applications.During collection of deteriorated cellulosic samples,9 different genera of fungi were encountered. Among them the most dominant was Chaetomium with35 different species. These species were evaluated for their cellulolytic activities.The occurrence of several species of Chaetomium in the survey prompted further investigation of relatively less studied species.This evaluation was carried out based ondetermination of the cellulolytic activity in terms of loss in weight of filter paper followed by enzyme assays viz., determination of extracellular enzyme activities with respect to exoglucanase andendoglucanase activities of 10 selected species (which showed more than 25% loss in weight of filter paper) viz., C. globosum, C. mollicellum, C. subspirale, C. olivaceum,C. convolutum, C. fibripilum, C. cochliodes, C. erraticum, C. Brasiliense and C. senegalensis . C. cochliodes showed maximum cellulolytic activity in terms of loss in weight of filter paper where as C. Subspirale recoded maximum activities for both exoglucanase and endoglucanase enzymes. C. olivaceum exhibited least activities in both the cases. The findings contribute to the understanding of Chaetomium as a valuable cellulolytic resource for sustainable bioprocessing.

@article{gosavi2026,
  author  = {Gosavi Mahavir C*},
  title   = {{Screening, Isolation and Identification of Cellulolytic Chaetomium species Collected from Deteriorating Cellulosic Samples}},
  journal = {Journal of Bioresearch},
  year    = {2026},
  volume  = {3},
  number  = {2},
  pages   = {20-27},
  doi     = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10797802},
}