Concerning the Identity of Iterson's Cellulolytic Mycogone

Abstract

one of the two pioneer research papers by the Dutch microbiologist, Iterson (1, 2), in which among a list of fifteen species of fungi the most active one was reported under the name Mycogone puccinioides (Preuss) Sacc. (syn. Blastotrichum puccinioides Preuss). Since Iterson's account was published this name has been quoted liberally in various articles concerned with deterioration of fabrics and other cellulosic materials, notably in the well-known compendium by Thaysen and Bunker (3). In that compendium the brief description of Blastotrichum puccinioides agrees, unfortunately, with the original description of that species by Preuss (4) rather than with Iterson's records. Preuss's Blastotrichum puccinioides was described and illustrated as having septate spores from a mycelium growing on a mushroom and was distinctly different from the amerosporous organism so identified by Iterson (I.c.). A review of the literature of cellulolytic deterioration suggests the likelihood that specific agents variously referred also to species of the form-genera Acremonium, Acremnoniella, Sepedonium, Monotospora, etc., may well be closely related, if not the same, species as that reported by Iterson, but it is convenient to restrict the present discussion to the identity of Iterson's oft-cited fungus. Among the cultures frequently obtained from decaying cotton fabrics is a dark-spored hyphomycete which has features suggesting the likelihood of its identity with Iterson's fungus. I first isolated it in pure culture in 1945 from a cotton fabric which had recently suffered decay through use in military operations in the South Pacific area. It was isolated readily using a modification of Iterson's (l.c.) technique in recovering the organism which grew most rapidly following the placing of a bit of the decayed fabric as inoculum upon sterile filter paper lying on a petri-dish plate of sterile