NUTRITIVE VALUE OF THE WOOD-ROTTING FUNGI AND THEIR SYNTHETIC PRODUCTS

Polyporus palustris, a brown rot, was grown in submerged culture for 10 days at 28 deg C on (1) a synthetic NH4NO3 medium, (2) a synthetic glutamic- acid medium, and (3) a 2% malt-extract solution. The malt extract produced the great4est amount of fungal mycelium and the NH4NO3 produced the least amount; the percent-ages of N and protein in general were inversely proportional to the mycelial weights. The micro-Kjeldahl method was used for N determination, and paper chromatography was used for identifying amino acids in hydrolysates of the mycelium. The following 17 amino acids were identified in the mycelium from the 3 culture media: a-alanine, arginine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, glycine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, proline, serine, threonine, tryptophane, tyrosine, and valine. cysteine, cysteine, hydroxyproline, ornithine, and asparagine were not found. The type of N in the medium influenced the amount of mycelium produced and protein synthesized, but did not affect the kinds of amino acids produced.