Molecular identification of leaf litter fungi potential for cellulose degradation

In plant litter decomposition in forest ecosystem, fungi play a central role through nutrient cycling and humus formation in soil because they colonize the lignocellulose matrix in litter that other organisms are unable to decompose. It has been described that cellulase is an adaptive enzyme in most fungi and had the most common carbohydrate on earth. For this reason, the study provided information about the fungal species isolated in leaf litters contributing to its biodiversity database. In this study, there are five species of fungi found to have cellulose degrading ability. The five species were identified using molecular approach and identified as Aspergillus eucalypticola, Aspergillus fumigatus, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Fusarium oxysporum and Penicilliun echinulatum. BLAST analysis showed the species of fungi ITS sequence from leaf litters, supported by 100% (A. fumigatus), 74% (A. eucalypticola), 100% (C. gloeosporioides), 100% (F. oxysporum) and 100% (P. echinolatum) sequence similarity.