MONOVERTICILLATA 187 



tannophilum, were described and named because of their ability to decom- 

 pose tannin rapidly. Two additional new species, P. mucosum and P. 

 mediocre were also found to break down tannin. All of these species ap- 

 proximate P. spinulosum Thorn, and are so regarded in the present Manual. 



Limited study has been devoted to the production of enzymes by mem- 

 bers of this series. From a blue-green Penicillium referred to as P. glau- 

 cum, Kertesz (1928) reported sucrase production to be directly propor- 

 tional to the amount of sucrose in the substrata in concentrations of from 

 one to 30 percent. No sucrase was formed in an invert sugar medium, 

 and raffinose gave yields almost equal to sucrose. Formation of the 

 enzyme was thus regarded as dependent upon the presence of an a-fructo- 

 side grouping in the nutrient medium. IMethods for determining the 

 amounts of invertase in the mycelium of a mold and in the culture medium 

 were subsequently published by the same author (1931), at which time he 

 reported that enzyme production increased with increased sugar concen- 

 tration only in the presence of adequate potassium, phosphorous, and 

 magnesium. Kertesz further (1930) reported the production of a pectin 

 decomposing enzyme, pectinase, by P. glaucum, which was subsequently 

 identified by Thom as P. frequentans Westling and cited in this Manual 

 as NRRL 763 (see p. 174). An enzyme preparation derived from this 

 mold was successfully used to clarify cider and other fruit juices. The 

 preparation had an optimum acidity of pH 3.0 to 3.5 and an optimum tem- 

 perature of 40° C. and was completely inactivated by heating at 55° C. 

 for 30 minutes. The addition of 0.5 percent enzyme solution was suf- 

 ficient to completely clarify cider in 13 hours at 25° C. Williman and 

 Kertesz (1931) presented additional information regarding the concen- 

 tration and use of a pectin dissolving enzyme paying particular attention 

 to its practical application for the clarification of grape juice. In this 

 paper, the responsible enzyme was reported to be different from either 

 pectinase or pectase. Studjdng the saccharification of Jerusalem arti- 

 chokes by mold inulases, Asai (1937) reported 7 varieties of Citromyces 

 to be active producers of this enzyme. Alvik (1931) studied the produc- 

 tion and stability of mold diastases elaborated by members of the P. 

 glahrum series but failed to include any quantitative data regarding pro- 

 duction. Horowitz-Vlassova and Livschitz (1935) reported certain fungi, 

 including C. pjefferianum (probably P. frequentans) to be able to disinte- 

 grate fats and oil by oxidation. Fungal lipase and an oxidation-inducing 

 enzyme termed lipoxidase could not be detected in the substrate but could 

 be found in the mycelium. 



Some interesting metabolic products are known to be produced by 

 members of the series. Anslow and Raistrick (1938a) identified 3,6- 

 dihy droxy-4-methoxy-2 , 5-toluquinone in cultures of Penicillium spinulo- 



