DISCHARGE OF SACCHARASE FROM MYCELIUM OF PENICILLIUM GLAUCUM

The relation between the composition of the media of fungus cultures and the enzymes produced has been the subject of many investigations. There is very little known about the discharge of the enzymes secreted by the mold into the culture medium. This phenomenon bears the most intimate relationship to the role played by the enzymes and to the life-cycle of the molds and it therefore merits more attention. The first recorded data in the literature that deal with the diffusion of mold enzymes into the medium are found in the study of FERNBACH (7) on the saccharase of Aspergillus niger. His method can not be regarded as free from objections, (5) but he established the first enzyme unit and he was the first to point out the great importance of the degree of acidity of the reaction mixtures. He measured the distribution of the saccharase between the mold and medium. The main result of his investigations was the discovery of the fact that the total amount of saccharase (activity) expressed in his enzyme unit was fairly constant, decreasing only about 20 per cent. from the second to the fifth day. The distribution ratio of the enzyme between the mold and medium changed during growth. On the second day 3 per cent., and on the fifth day 37 per cent. of the total enzyme content was found in the medium. The conclusion to be derived from FERNBACH'S experiment is that the maximum amount of enzyme is formed during the first two days, and later this enzyme simply passes slowly from the mold to the medium. He obtained practically the same results with a yeast,-Saccharomyces pastorianus. Since FERNBACH's experiments no work has been done on the distribution of the enzyme between microorganism and medium. In the experiments of DOBY and KERTESZ (2) the saccharase content of Penicillium glaucunt cultures was determined and the enzyme content of the medium was found to be very low. These authors were studying the changes in the saccharase content of the mold when grown with and without potassium, and therefore did not pay further attention to the enzyme content of the medium. BRIDEL and AAGAARD (1) have shown that when the mold is kept on distilled water, the enzyme diffuses out of the mycelium into the water. IWANOFF and KUDRJAWZEWA (8) published a paper in 1929 entitled,