In article ,
Mike Lyle wrote:
Nick Maclaren wrote:
[...]
I have asked before in many forums, but never have had an answer
as to what breaks down keratin in the soil. One idiotic answer
was "nothing much", so I pointed out that much of the UK would be
knee deep in old wool if that were the case. The consensus is
"bacteria", which isn't exactly informative and may well be wrong.

Interesting. Fungi, it seems from several papers, such as:

Interesting. Either papers have appeared since I last looked, or
you are a better searcher than I am. Thanks for the references,
whichever it is.

Another reference, from Brazil, suggests that pathogenic keratophilic
fungi on the skin (presumably things like the athlete's foot family)
evolved from harmless soil-borne species. Presumably unsterilised
feathers and hair already carry populations of the necessary.

To call the athlete's foot fungus pathogenic is stretching the meaning
of the term to almost breaking point! To a good first approximation,
it causes trouble only to people who insist on perverse and unnatural
behaviour, like wearing shoes. I used to suffer badly but, since I
gave up shoes in favour of sandals (some 30 years back!), have had
no trouble.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.