Thermomucorsporangiophores are branched and they often arise from stolons and rhizoids. Sporangia are globose, apophysate, columellate, and multispored. Sporangiospores are subglobose and smooth-walled. Zygospores with a smooth zygosporangial wall, suspensors more or less equal, opposed, and formed in the aerial hyphae; homothallic. Thermophilic.
Thermomucoralso was known in the literature asMucorindicae-seudaticae(Schipper et al., 1975). Later, this fungus was described asThermomucor indicae-seudaticae(Subrahamanyam et al., 1977). Schipper (1979) studiedT. indicae-seudaticaeand determined the best method of inducing zygospore formation in culture. Good zygospore formation can be induced onAPDA[Potato dextrose agar (Difco) + 6 drops of 50% lactic acid per liter (based on Tuite, 1969)]. (Zygomycetes.org 2015)
Thermomucor indicae-seudaticae columella and zygospore
Proteases are some of the most important industrial enzymes, and one of their main applications is for the production of cheese in the dairy industry. Due to a shortage of animal rennet, microbial coagulant proteases are being sought. In this work, the production of microbial rennet fromThermomucorindicae-seudaticaeN31 was studied in submerged fermentation. The best enzyme production was obtained in a fermentation medium containing 4 % wheat bran as the substrate in 0.3 % saline solution, incubated for 72 h at 45 °C and 150 rpm. The value of the milk clotting activity (MCA) was 60.5 U/mL, and the ratio to proteolytic activity (MCA/PA) was 510. The crude enzyme showed optimum pH at 5.5 and two peaks of optimum temperature (MCA at 65 °C and PA at 60 °C). The MCA was stable in the pH range 4.0-4.5 for 24 h and up to 55 °C for 1 h. It was stable during storage at different temperatures (-20 to 25 °C) for 10 weeks. Based on these results, we conclude that microbial rennet from T.indicae-seudaticaeN31 produced by submerged fermentation showed good prospects of replacing traditional rennet.
Thermomucor indicae-seudaticaeSubrahmanyamet al. was found for the first time growing as commensal associated with pityriasis versicolor on the skin of a 25-year-old man living in a small village near Pune, Maharastra, India. The clinical observations and morphological characters are presented. A small percentage of zygospores was found to germinatein situbut further stages of development could not be found.
