AGING OF PENICILLIUM-CHRYSOGENUM CULTURES UNDER CARBON STARVATION .1.MORPHOLOGICAL-CHANGES AND SECONDARY METABOLITE PRODUCTION

In aging carbon-depleted cultures of an industrial beta-lactam-produci ng strain of Penicillium chrysogenum the fragmentation and autolysis o f mycelia was coupled with high production of NH3 (71.6 mM) and oxalat e (37.8 mM) and low production of beta-lactam (0.24 mM). Round-ended h yphal fragments consisting of two cells were found to be the dominant surviving forms, and addition of an extra dose of glucose in the autol ytic phase reversed the biomass degradation by reinitiating cell growt h.