2. Materials and methods
2.1. Microorganisms
Several fungi belonging to the basidiomycete, deuteromycete, zygomycete and ascomycete classes and
some Gram-negative and positive bacteria were used in this study (Tables 1–3). Basidiomycete
strains were obtained from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) and other fungal and bacterial
strains from the culture collection of our laboratory. Stock cultures of fungi were maintained on
2% malt extract-agar (MEA) plates grown at 288C, except to thermophilic ascomycete Thermoascus
aurantiacus (458C), and stored at 58C. Stock cultures of bacteria were maintained on nutrient agar
grown at 288C.
2.2. Modification of CAS-agar Universal test plates
The universal CAS assay was modified to test the ability of several fungal and bacterial strains to
produce iron-binding compounds of siderophore-type in solid medium.
CAS-blue agar (1 l) was prepared according to