SPECTROSCOPIC ANALYSIS OF FIVE PHYLOGENETICALLY DISTANT FUNGI (DIVISION: ASCOMYCETE) FROM VELLAR ESTUARY, SOUTHEAST COAST OF INDIA - A PILOT STUDY

Fungal taxonomy is dynamically driven towards controversial discipline that consequently requires changes in nomenclature. Scarcity of microbiological expertise particularly for marine fungi is another major setback for these taxonomical differences. Here, five different species pharmacologically important marine fungi under Division Ascomycete were studied for their spectral variation. This work verified the practical applicability of FT-IR microspectroscopy technique for early and rapid identification of these species based on the spectral data showed striking difference with their major biomolecules such as lipids, proteins and nucleic acids produced by them. Spectra of all the species showed striking differences while individual peaks of each spectrum are parallel to each other in their respective spectral regions. Aspergillus oryzae have intense peaks in the lipid and nucleic acid spectral region and moderate bands in the amide spectrum. Phoma herbarum and Trichoderma piluliferum showed intense peaks in the protein spectral region but moderate peaks in the lipid and nucleic acid regions. Hypocrea lixii and Meyerozyma guilliermandii have less intense peaks in all the five spectral regions. This unique spectral representation is concordant with the cluster analysis dendrogram by minimum variance statistical method where low spectroscopic distance was found between H. lixii and M. guilliermondii whereas a higher spectroscopic distance was found between P. herbarum and T. piluliferum. FTIR spectroscopy delivers a combined advantage for efficient fungal classification as well as simultaneous visualization of chemical composition of samples as evident from this study.