African Journal of Infectious Diseases Research

African Journal of Infectious Diseases Research ISSN 2756-3340 Vol. 7 (4), pp. 001-005, April, 2020. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Study of the effect of bacterial and chemical volatiles on the growth of the fungus Aureobasidium pullulans

Sulamain Ali Alharbi²*, Naif Abdullah Al-Harbi^1,2, Salah Hajomer³, Milton Wainwright^2,3 and Basam O. AlJohny⁴

¹Addiriyah Chair for Environmental Studies, College of Science, King Saud University, P. O. Box: 2455 Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia.

²Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, P. O. Box: 2455 Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia.

³Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK.

⁴Biological Science Department, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia.

Accepted 21 October, 2019

Abstract

The aim of this study was firstly to determine if volatiles produced by a range of bacteria influences the growth of the fungus Aureobasdium pullulans and secondly, to determine if this fungus can use organic volatiles hydrocarbons as a sole carbon source. The results show that a) bacteria produce volatiles which influence the growth of the fungus A. pullulans, b) that the response to such volatiles can be inhibitory or stimulatory and that these effects are seen when the fungus is grown under both nutrient-rich and nutrient-poor conditions, and c) that A. pullulans can grow oligotrophically in saturated atmospheres of acetone, benzene and ammonium hydroxide, these volatiles being used as nutrient sources.

Key words: Fungi, bacteria, volatiles, bacterial volatiles, chemical volatiles.