342 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [october 



acids in alcoholic fermentation has greatly advanced our knowledge of the 

 origin of fusel-oils, which have usually been regarded as side-products of sugar 

 fermentation. These investigations have been extended by Ehrlich and 

 Jacobson 9 to other fungi, to determine whether the decomposition of amino- 

 acids induced by them is similar to that brought about by the yeast cell. 

 The authors have studied the action, on amino-acids, of some 50 fungi, upon 

 which a complete report is promised. The behavior of the filamentous fungi 

 toward amino-acids differs greatly according to whether carbohydrates are 

 present or not. In the absence of carbohydrates the decomposition of amino- 

 acids is more extensive than that produced by yeasts, but in the presence of 

 carbohydrates the degree of decomposition differs with different fungi. In the 

 present paper the peculiar behavior of Oidium lactis on amino-acids in the 

 presence of sugar is reported. The action of this fungus results in the replace- 

 ment of the amino-groups by hydroxyl, thereby yielding oxyacids correspond- 

 ing to the amino-acids according to the following general reaction : 



R • CH(NH 2 )C0 2 H+H 2 = R • CH(OH)C0 2 H+NH 3 



The ammonia which is formed is used in protein synthesis by the fungus. 

 Here as with the yeast cell the amino-nitrogen (in the form of ammonia) enters 

 into the metabolism of the cell, while the rest of the molecule is excreted as a 

 product not capable of being further utilized. The end products in the two 

 cases are different, being in the case of the yeast cell an alcohol with one carbon 

 less than the amino-acid from which it was derived, while with Oidium lactis 

 an oxyacid corresponding to the amino-acid results. By the action of Oidium 

 lactis, /-tyrosin yielded rf-paraoxyphenyl-lactic acid, d-/-phenylalanin yielded 

 rf-phenyHactic acid, and /-tryptophan gave /-indol-lactic acid, all acids which 

 were heretofore not known in those modifications. 



In this connection the authors point out that Kotake 10 obtained from dogs 

 suffering from phosphorus poisoning the levorotatory form of oxyphenyl- 

 lactic acid, thus affording an example of the production by the plant and by 

 the animal cell, not of the same but of opposite stereoisomers from one and the 

 same substance. It should be stated, however, that Kotake himself regards it 

 as extremely improbable that his acid was produced from tyrosin, as he was 

 unable to isolate oxyphenyl-lactic acid as a result of feeding tyrosin itself. 



A better example of the production of isomeric antipodes from the same 

 racemic substance is afforded by the action of plant cells and of animal cells on 

 racemic phenylamino-acetic acid. Neubauer and Warburg 11 obtained the 



• Ehrlich, Felix, und Jacobson, K. A., Ueber die Umwandlung von Amino- 



sauren in Oxysauren durch Schimmelpilze. Ber. Deutsch. Chem. Gesells. 44: 888-897- 

 1911. 



10 Kotake, Y., Ueber /-Oxyphenylmilchsaure und ihr Vorkommen im Harn bei 

 Phosphorvergiftung. Zeitschr. Physiol. Chem. 65:397-401. 1910. 



■ Neubauer, O., und Warburg, O., Ueber eine Synthese mit Essigsaure in der 

 kiinstlich durch bluteten Leber. Ibid. 70:1-9. 1910. 



