Vincent W. Cochrane

Chlamydospore development in the absence of protein synthesis in Fusarium solani.

Abstract Germinated macrospores of a strain of Fusarium solani develop differentiated chlamydospores in an acid medium at levels of cycloheximide which inhibit protein synthesis and virtually inhibit (96%) the incorporation of uracil- 14 C into ribonucleic acid. The system responsible for the formation of chlamydospores develops early in normal germination but is expressed only if the environment is modified.

Fermentation of d-xylose-1-C14 by Fusarium lini Bolley

Abstract Resting cells of the fungus Fusarium lini Bolley (FlB) ferment one mole of d -xylose to equimolar quantities of carbon dioxide, ethyl alcohol, and acetic acid. This is in contrast to growing cultures which have been reported to yield only ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide in a ratio of 1:2. When FlB fermented d -xylose-1-C 14 , only the acetic acid methyl carbon was found to contain appreciable tracer. This is in agreement with pentose dissimilation by Lactobacillus pentosus and Lactobacillus pento-aceticus and indicates that molds as well as bacteria cleave the pentose chain into C 2 and C 3 fragments. It is pointed out that if ribulose 5-phosphate is the compound cleaved, then the enzyme catalyzing the cleavage is probably not transketolase.

Synthesis of Macromolecules and Polyribosome Formation in Early Stages of Spore Germination in Fusarium solani

SUMMARY: Net synthesis of protein and RNA in germinating macroconidia of Fusarium solani began at the time of appearance of germ tubes, RNA being formed first; net DNA synthesis began much later. Studies on precursor incorporation indicated that the ungerminated spore, at the time of its removal from the parent mycelium, had a low but real capacity to synthesize both RNA and protein. Leucine incorporation rose very rapidly to a maximum at about 40 min. after harvest; even in the time required for conventional washing and filtration, incorporation capacity increased threefold. Ultra-centrifuge profiles showed polysome peaks after 15 min. incubation; evidence from ribonuclease treatment was consistent with the existence of polysomes in the spore at the time of removal from the mycelium. Neither protein nor RNA synthesis required a complete medium, but DNA was synthesized only in a medium that supported germination.

Chlamydospore induction in pure culture in Fusarium solani.

SUMMARYChlamydospore initiation by ungerminated or pre-germinated macrospores of Fusarium solani f. sp. phaseoli is induced by incubation in a complete medium at pH 4.0; this low pH may be achieved...

The Anaerobic Dissimilation of Glucose by Fusarium Lini

It has long been recognized that the metabolism of glucose by Fusarium species under conditions of restricted aeration is similar in at least some respects to that of yeast (34). In growing cultures the ratio of ethanol to carbon dioxide often approaches unity (1, 2, 27), although the ability of the fungus to utilize ethanol (10, 33) means that exact ratios cannot reproducibly be obtained in long-term growth ex? periments. Other evidence from which it might be inferred that the yeast pattern is followed includes the effect of thiamine (6, 35, 36), the effect of added diphosphopyridine nucleotide (12), and the demonstration of carboxylase and cocarboxylase in dried cells of Fusarium tricothecioides (32). It must be recognized that this evidence is inconclusive, and it has been vigorously maintained that the classical Embden-Meyerhof pathway of yeast metabolism is of little or no importance in Fusarium (21, 22, 25, 26). The evidence, largely negative, will be summarized later in this paper. Experiments with resting cells and with extracts have been designed to test the hypothesis that the anaerobic formation of ethanol and carbon

Commercial production of acids by fungi

Citric, gluconic, fumaric and gallic acids, all having industrial applications, are the only ones among 41 known fungus acids that are produced commercially today.

Spore germination and carbon metabolism inFusarium solani: VI. Ethanol metabolism and the biosynthesis of amino acids

Although macrospore germination inFusarium solani requires ethanol under specified cultural conditions, it is not likely that this has any general significance in nature; the requirement is strain-specific and can be modified by the growth medium on which spores are produced. Under the conditions in which ethanol is required it is fully replaced by serine, but it is partially and only at relatively high concentrations replaced by threonine, arginine, and glutamine. Inhibitor and incorporation experiments show that ethanol is converted to serine by a metabolic route that requires the action of ethanol dehydrogenase but does not involve glycine, acetate, or the tricar☐ylic acid cycle. Overall ethanol metabolism, however, does involve acetate or acetyl-coenzyme A, as evidenced by a partial inhibition of it by fluoroacetate. Spores metabolizing labeled acetate, which does not replace ethanol in spore germination, incorporate label into several amino acids but not into serine, while serine is the first and most prominent amino acid product of ethanol metabolism.