Plant Pathology Department
Date of this Version
1945
Citation
American Journal of Botany, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Jan., 1945), pp. 46-50
Abstract
A survey of published material reveals relatively little information concerning the nutritional physiology of Penicillium notatum Westl. on synthetic media. Metabolism studies of P. notatum on various media have appeared to be incidental to the more pressing problem of producing penicillin quickly and in quantity. Fleming (1929) originally used a nutrient broth non-synthetic in nature. The Oxford group (Abraham et al., 1941) then adopted a modification of the so-called Czapek-Dox synthetic medium which supplies nitrogen as sodium nitrate and glucose as carbohydrate. Hobby, Meyer, and Chaffee (1942) suggested that brown sugar be substituted for glucose in this nutrient, with resultant higher yields and decreased time for maximum production of penicillin. Apparently a variety of carbon and nitrogen sources have been employed in liquid nutrients (Foster, 1943; Foster, Woodruff and McDaniel, 1943; McKee and Rake, 1942; Kocholaty, 1942; Waksman and Horning, 1943); but specific data have not been offered. At the present time corn steep liquor appears to be an important component of the medium used.