Annals 



of the 



Missouri Botanical Garden 



Vol. 10 



NOVEMBER, 1923 



No. 4 



STUDIES IN THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE FUNGI 



XVI. Some Aspects of Nitrogen Metabolism in Fungi 1 



LEO JOSEPH! KLOTZ 



Formerly Uufus J. Lackland Fellow in the Henry Shaw School of Botany of 



Washington University 

 A ssistant Professor of Botany, University of New Hampshire 



Introduction and Review of Literature 



Few extensive, really fundamental contributions to our know- 

 ledge of the nitrogen metabolism of plants are to be found. Even 

 to-day practically nothing is known of the course of the assimi- 

 latory processes beyond the beginning and end points. It is 

 evident that an insight into this fundamental life process will 

 be more readily obtained by a study of fungi rather than of the 

 higher plants, because of the relatively greater ease of the ap- 

 plication of pure culture methods to the former. 



The nitrogen fixation of fungi may properly be considered first. 

 A glance at the literature reveals many conflicting data. In 



spite of the great number of publications, covering a period of 

 over 50 years, it was not until 1916 that a paper appeared which 

 included a complete review of the literature and gave evidence 

 of adequacy in the technique employed. The technique of 

 Duggar and Davis ('16) was significant in that Kjeldahl flasks 

 were used directly as the culture vessels, thus necessitating no 

 transference of either the fungous mat or culture solution prior 



n in the Graduate 



School of Botany of Washington U 

 fulfillment of the requirements for 

 r Shaw School of Botany of Washingt 



Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard., Vol. 10, 1923 



(299) 



Ji 



