Invasion and biodegradation of hair by house dust fungi

The present investigation deals with hair degrading ability and release of protein from keratinous substrates in vitro by the action of 12 fungi isolated from the house dust of Kanpur, India with a view to explore their biodeteriorating ability. Twelve keratinophilic fungi were tested for their ability to colonize and invade human hair and to release protein in culture medium up to 30 days. Chrysosporium indicum and Microsporum gypseum colonized human hair as early as 6 days while Acremonium sp. (GPCK 533) took 24 days to colonize hair. Complete hair deterioration was observed in the case of C. indicum, C. tropicum and C. tropicum (atypical) at the end of 24 days. Acremonium sp. (GPCK 531) showed minimum hair invasion after 30 days. The greatest net amount of protein was released from the human hair by C. indicum and least by Acremonium sp. (GPCK 531).