CHANGE IN CARBOHYDRATE-COMPOSITION OF FUNGI DURING ADAPTATION TO THERMOSTRESS

A new type of biochemical thermoadaptation has been found. It suggests that the composition of carbohydrate protectors in fungi is determine d by the environmental temperature. Under the effect of high-temperatu re stress the mycelial trehalose and inosite content increases; in low -temperature stress the level of mannitol and glucose grows. A similar dependence of change in the composition of sugars under stress was fo und not only in the actively growing mycelium but also in spores of fu ngi with different optimum growth temperatures. Accumulation of carboh ydrates in fungal cells is discussed in light of current ideas on the protective role of trehalose in stress.