12 Essays in Biochemistry 



from a taxonomic point of view, that these exhibit no relationships 

 of taxonomic interest, it is, of course, too soon to draw conclusions 

 since the number of basidiomycete compounds characterized is still 

 relatively small. One facet of the group of findings is, perhaps, some- 

 what more apparent than the others. The isolation of acetylenic 

 compounds from basidiomycetes suggests their rather general biological 

 occurrence since they have been shown to be produced by higher plants, 

 by the basidiomycete group of fungi and by an actinomycete. The 

 isolation of a propiolic acidlike compound from Escherichia coli, men- 

 tioned above, is of further interest in this connection. 



From the findings and the discussion presented in this paper, it is 

 apparent that no conclusions of a general nature can be drawn which 

 would make a cohesive story of the particular corner of "polychem- 

 ism" 40 observed in the compounds isolated in our laboratory from 

 basidiomycetes. It is hoped, however, that some interesting trends 

 have been pointed out and that possible paths have been suggested 

 toward desirable goals. 



Some of the work described in this article was supported by a 

 research grant (C-2308) from the National Cancer Institute of the 

 National Institutes of Health, United States Public Health Service. 

 The author is also indebted to Dr. William J. Robbins, Dr. Richard 

 Klein, and Dr. Herbert Rackow for valuable suggestions on the manu- 

 script, to Dr. Julian Wolff for preparation of Fig. 1, and to Drs. 

 E. R. H. Jones and J. D. Bu'Lock for making available their findings 

 prior to publication. 



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