Respiratory research with submerged agitated mycelia of the vine-root fungus Mycelium Radicis atrovirens in the apparatus of von Euler, Myrbäck and Nilsson

Abstract

The oxygen uptake of two strains ofMycelium Radicis atrovirens was measured volumetrically in the respirometer apparatus ofvon Euler, Myrbäck andNilsson. The vessels employed were 100 cm3 Erlenmeyer flasks with center cup containing the solution of potassium hydroxide used for absorption of carbon dioxide. The mycelium was grown in a submerged state in shaking cultures according to the method ofWikén andSomm. The oxygen consumption of the growing young mycelium in a glucose-ammonium tartrate medium amounted to about 2 × 10−2 cm3 per milligram of dry weight per hour. The respiratory activity of the washed mycelium in distilled water or phosphate buffer was equal to that shown by the intact mycelium in its actual culture medium. The high autorespiration (endogenous respiration) thus observed was reduced appreciably by starvation for 48 hours in phosphate buffer under aerated conditions. The autorespiration of the starved mycelium amounted to 0.1−0.3×10−2 cm3 per milligram of dry weight per hour, whereas its oxygen uptake in solutions of glucose, succinate, fumarate, and citrate was equal to 0.6−1.7×10−2 cm3.