ENZYME STUDIES OF LOWER FUNGI 



ARTHUR W. DOX 



Agricultural Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa 



Recent investigations in the fields of bacteriology and mycol- 

 ogy have led to many interesting observations. The intimate 

 association of the lower forms of plant life with every-day phe- 

 nomena is now just beginning to meet with the widespread 

 recognition which it merits. Unfortunately, however, the atten- 

 tion of scientists has been confined for the most part to a study 

 of the morphology and life history of these lower plants. Inves- 

 tigations of the subject from the chemist's point of view, though 

 equally important, have not kept pace with the progress achieved 

 in recent years by the bacteriologist and the mycologist. Yet 

 many interesting disclosures of a chemical nature have been made 

 by those investigators who realized the intimate relation between 

 the life and growth of lower plants and the deep-seated chemical 

 changes taking place in the surrounding medium. 



One of the most interesting and important phases of phyto- 

 chemistry is that which deals with the enzymes produced by 

 plants. The study of plant enzymes in general is too compre- 

 hensive a subject to be discussed within the scope of this brief 

 paper. The writer having been engaged for several years in the 

 study of a' particular group of fungi, which includes the more 

 common saprophytic molds, it is to these that the reader's atten- 

 tion is directed. The molds included in this discussion comprise 

 certain species intimately associated with some particular sub- 

 stratum, and cultures from these sources rarely require further 

 identification. Thus the green mold of rotten apples, the blue 

 and olive rots of citrus fruits, the green mold of Roquefort cheese 

 and the gray mold of Camembert cheese are distinct species. 

 Many related species are also widely distributed in nature but 



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