Diversity and Functional Analysis of Soil Culturable Microorganisms Using a Keratin Baiting Technique.

Using chicken feathers as bait, the microbiota of soil samples collected from 20 zoos in China were enriched for keratin-utilizing microorganisms, which were cultured in the current study. The microbiota was then isolated by dilution-plate and plate-coating methods, and their diversity, core microbiota, and ecological functions were investigated and analyzed. A total of 4928 bacterial isolates belonging to 4 phyla, 5 classes, 6 orders, 10 families, 31 genera, and 91 species were identified, with Bacillus as the dominant genus; and 5550 fungal isolates belonging to 3 phyla, 9 classes, 18 orders, 40 families, 71 genera, and 157 species were identified, with Aspergillus as the dominant genus. The core microbiota of the enriched soil samples comprised 10 bacterial and 22 fungal isolates, with the core taxa consisting of Scopulariopsis flava, Lysinibacillus fusiformis, Peribacillus simplex, and Priestia megaterium. Ecological function analysis revealed that the core microbiota was saprophytic and played important roles in organic matter degradation (including carbon and nitrogen cycles). Findings from this study lay a theoretical for efficiently degrading waste, that is, the core taxa could be used to construct microbial consortia that efficiently degrade keratin-rich material and other waste, in addition to enriching keratinophilic microbial resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]