Susceptibility of airborne fungi to the mycocins produced by Wickerhamomyces anomalus: Susceptibilidade do fungi aéreo aos mycocins produzidos pela Wickerhamomyces anomalus

Atmospheric air is the most used and most successful dispersion medium for fungi. Airborne fungi can establish themselves and contaminate the air, reducing the quality of life of the organisms that circulate there. The broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity and great stability led to the use of Wickerhamomyces anomalus as a biocontrol agent, since it could be classified as a low-risk microorganism, rarely traced in human samples. In addition, the antimicrobial action of mycocins produced from this yeast in eukaryotic and prokaryotic microorganisms is already proven. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the inhibition of airborne fungi by mycocins. The passive sedimentation technique was used in Petri dishes exposed in an external environment. The exposed plates consisted of a control group, consisting only of Sabouraud Dextrose Agar medium, and another test, composed of medium and supernatant of mycocins from Wickerhamomyces anomalus. The growth of 6 genera of fungi was observed on the control plates: Cladosporium spp., Penicillium spp., Alternaria spp. Aspergillus spp., Chrysosporium spp. and Fusarium spp. While, on the test plates, there was no growth of microorganisms. Therefore, we concluded that the mycocins produced by Wickerhamomyces anomalus were able to inhibit the growth of airborne fungi