Fungi Cunninghamella Elegans

Cunninghamella is a filamentous fungus found in soil and plant material, particularly at Mediterranean and subtropical zones. It has also been recovered from animal material, cheese, and Brazil nuts. Deet is hard to break down in soils since bacterias are unable to help the metabolism.  Only partial degradation by the fungi Cunninghamella elegans and Mucor ramannianus R-56, via N oxidation and N deethylation, has been shown previously. However in Mezquital Valley, only few fungi Cunninghamella elegans has been detected and might be the only species to help with the metabolism of Deet. Therefore, deet is hard to breakdown in the soil in Mezquiytal Valley.