Purification and properties of a toxin isolated from Mortierella wolfii.

A substance toxic for mice has been extracted from the washed mycelia of Mortierella wolfii. This toxin could also be demonstrated in culture fluids after spontaneous autolysis of the fungal hyphae. Purification of the toxin was carried out using Sephadex chromatography (G-200, G-50) and resulted in a single band on sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gels. Properties of the toxin included heat lability at 60 C, trypsin sensitivity, activity over a wide pH range, and a molecular weight of 23,600. The mean lethal dose for 16-week-old male mice was 3.3 mug of protein.