Nutrition of Spinellus macrocarpus

Abstract

Spinellus macrocarpus has been grown by several workers in pure culture on natural media and its nutritional requirements have now been investigated. It grew well on media containing glucose, fructose, mannitol or trehalose as carbon sources but did not utilize gluconate, lactose or galactose. A mixture of twenty-one amino acids, hydrolysed casein or yeast extract were suitable nitrogen sources, but single amino acids or inorganic nitrogen compounds were not utilized. S. macrocarpus required thiamin and nicotinic acid for growth but the latter could be replaced by relatively large amounts of tryptophane. High concentrations of amino acids in the medium inhibited growth especially if it contained insufficient nicotinic acid. The results suggest that some other substance, ‘X’, contained in yeast extract but not in hydrolysed casein, is necessary for growth under some conditions, especially when large amounts of amino acids are present in the medium.