Differential reaction of saprophytic and parasitic soil-inhabiting fungi to indoleacetic acid.

Abstract

INDOLEACETIC acid was shown to be a product of fungus metabolism, when Thimann1 in 1935 demonstrated that this was the growth-promoting substance (for higher plants) produced by cultures of Rhizopus suinus. Later, attempts to reproduce in fungi the growth responses to indoleacetic acid found in higher plants were not successful2, and interest in this field has been limited. The importance of indoleacetic acid in fungus metabolism has, however, been emphasized by several recent reports, particularly of studies of host–parasite relationships3–6.