Metabolic studies on ASPERGILLUS NIGER 72-4

Recent data on the effect of trace elements on the production of citric acid by Aspergillus niger 72-4 suggested that at last a firm basis had been established for studies on the mechanism of production. Citric acid production is an important commercial process and most research had been directed toward obtaining high yields of the acid. The small amount of information on mechanisms is invalidated by the new knowledge of the importance of trace minerals in citric acid synthesis. The attempt at elucidating a system was approached by studying the distribution of organic phosphates in the mats and by manometric experiments. By using the Umbreit fractionation method combined with chromatographic analysis none of the phosphorylated intermediates present in the Embden-Meyerhof system could be identified. Evidence for a pentose and a ketose phosphate is presented. The manometric studies on still cultures were unsatisfactory due to a high endogenous rate and to difficulties in handling the mat. Shake cultures grown for four days and then depleted for 24 hours in the medium minus sucrose and manganese were shown to be a workable method for manometric studies. Using this method evidence for the presence of most of the enzymes required for the oxidation of the Krebs cycle intermediates is presented. A survey of the literature on cell preparations was made. Attempts to prepare active cell preparations failed since enzyme activity seems to be associated with the structural integrity of the mycelium.Land and Food Systems, Faculty ofGraduat