First report of occurrence of Paecilomyces formosus and Paecilomyces parvisporus in Brazil

Abstract

Prospecting for fungal strains with biotechnological potential has been stimulated in recent years, especially in geographical regions with high biodiversity such as the Brazilian savannas, where microbial diversity is under environmental risk. Aiming to isolate and identify fungi species that could potentially be used in the bioethanol industry, we used sugarcane bagasse as a substrate, from crops cultivated in mid-southern Brazilian Cerrado, and obtained 20 species, three of them belonging to genus Paecilomyces: P. formosus, P. saturatus, and P. parvisporus. The only report of the occurrence of P. parvisporus so far had been from a study conducted in China. Therefore, this is the first scientific report of occurrence of P. formosus and P. parvisporus in Brazilian territory, and the second report of occurrence of P. saturatus in the country – the first one dating back to 1957. Our work reinforces the importance of cataloging Brazilian biodiversity and raises the hypothesis that the species found, which were isolated from sugarcane bagasse, could be used in the future for the synthesis of lignocellulolytic enzymes and therefore also for management of biomass with energy-production purposes.