Atmungsversuche mit submersem Schüttelmyzel des Wurzelpilzes Mycelium Radicis atrovirens in der Apparatur nach von Euler, Myrbäck und Nilsson.

The oxygen uptake of two strains of Mycelium Radicis atrovirens was measured volumetrically in the respirometer apparatus of von Euler, Myrbäck and Nilsson. The vessels employed were 100 cm 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 of Wikén and Somm. The oxygen consumption of the growing young mycelium in a glucose-ammonium tartrate medium amounted to about 2 × 10 cm 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 cm 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 cm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]