Fungi are well known by their ability to excrete enzymes into the environment. Among them, representatives of Mucor Fresen. have important biotechnological potential and some of them produce industrial enzymes. This work studied amylase, lipase, polygalacturonase and protease production by fifty-six isolates of Mucor belonging to 11 different taxa, selected from herbivores dung using solid media. The results showed that the majority of the isolates presented several enzymatic activities with predominance of polygalacturonase (96%), followed by amylase (84%), protease (82%) and lipase (66%).Key words: Fungal enzymes, Mucor, amylase, lipase, polygalacturonase, protease, herbivorous dungThe enzymes are essential proteins for the metabolic system of all living organisms and have an important role in the degradation of organic matter, in host infection and food spoilage. In the metabolic pathways, they act in organized sequences of catabolic and anabolic routes (12). Enzymes may also act in the control of biochemical processes in the living cells. They may be isolated from animals, plants and microorganisms. The last ones are considered good sources of industrial enzymes for the great diversity of enzymes that have been found (13). The enzymes are used in large scale in the textile (amylase, cellulase, oxidoreductase); detergents (protease, lipase, cellulase, oxidoreductase); food (pectinase, protease, cellulase, oxidoreductase); paper (xylanase, oxidoreductase and lipase) and leather (protease, lipase) industries (14).Extracellular enzymes may be produced in liquid or solid media. The use of solid media permits a fast screening of large populations of fungi, allowing the detection of specific enzymes (3,8,10,17,19,20) and helping in the chemotaxonomical differentiation of many microorganisms (10). The production of * Corresponding author. Mailing address: Centro de Ciências Agrárias e Biológicas, Coordenação de Biologia, Universidade Estadual Vale do Acaraú-UVA. Av. da Universidade, 850, Campus da Betânia, Sobral, CE, Brasil. 62011-970. E-mail: mahelenalves@bol.com.br enzymes by microorganisms assures a potential and unlimited supply and also makes it possible the genesis of new enzymatic systems that cannot be obtained from plant or animal sources (2,13).The species of the genus Mucor constitute a group of microorganisms responsible for the production of several enzymes such as amylases, lipases, pectinases and proteases (5,16,20). Mucor hiemalis, M. racemosus (15), M. bacilliformis (7) and M. miehei (6) present protease activity of commercial value and M. miehei is the most studied specie concerning the production of lipase (14).The objective of this work was to detect the presence of the aforementioned enzymes by taxa of Mucor isolated from herbivores dung, using solid culture media.The 11 taxa of Mucor isolated from dung of herbivores animals, from two locations in Recife, PE (1), are shown in the (11) and/or Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) and submitted to monosporic cultivation according to the methodol...

This article presents a survey of fungi obtained from soil, water and mixed leaf litter samples taken from the Atlantic Rainforest in the municipality of Cubatão, in the State of São Paulo, during the years of 1993 to 1995. Using different techniques for the isolation of microscopic fungi, a total of 280 taxa was obtained (66 zoosporic fungi, 40 Mucorales, 45 Glomales, 125 anamorphs, three Ascomycota and one Basidiomycota), with 23 species being reported for the first time in Brazil.

-(Taxa of Mucor Fresen. (Zygomycota) from herbivorous dung, Recife, Pernambuco State, Brazil). To contribute to the knowledge of Mucorales (Zygomycota)

From March/1993 to March/1995, airborne fungi were isolated from the "Vale do Rio Moji" (highly affected by the air pollution caused by fertilizer industries, steel works, cement factories and chemical products industries, among others) and from the "Vale do Rio Pilões" (less affected by the air pollution), both in the municipality of Cubatão, São Paulo State, Brazil, by exposing Petri dishes with potato dextrose agar medium, placed one meter from the ground, during 5 min. After 5 days of incubation at 20ºC, the colonies of the fungi were purified and identified, resulting in the identification of 39 taxa, three unidentified strains of Fusarium and non-sporulating cultures. A total of 28 taxa, one unidentified strain of Fusarium and non-sporulating fungi (71 records) were isolated in the "Vale do Rio Moji" and 29 taxa, two unidentified strains of Fusarium and non-sporulating fungi (72 records) in the "Vale do Rio Pilões. The airborne mycota of the higher polluted site presented 17 common, 12 rare and only one constant fungal species. In the other site, the airborne mycota was composed by 19 common, 10 rare and two constant fungal species. Among the obtained fungi, at least 12 taxa were reported as opportunistic fungi, 26 have been mentioned related to plant diseases and eight have been associated to allergy problems. The similarity Index of Sörensen between the mycotas, corresponding to 58%, may be considered low, and is probably justified by the air pollution, that mainly distinguish the two studied areas.

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