Organic acid production by Basidiomycetes. I. Screening of acid-producing strains.

Sixty-seven strains belonging to 47 species of Basidiomycetes were examined for their acid-producing abilities in glucose media, in both the presence and absence of CaCO(3), in stationary and shake cultures. Some strains were found to produce large quantities of oxalic acid. The oxalic acid-producing strains could be separated into two groups. Strains of one group (mostly brown-rot fungi) were able to produce oxalic acid, regardless of whether CaCO(3) was present in the medium. Strains of the other group (mostly white-rot fungi) were characterized by their ability to produce oxalic acid only when CaCO(3) was added to the medium. With the latter group, shake-culturing was generally more effective than stationary culturing in respect to acid production. In the CaCO(3)-containing media, Schizophyllum commune, Merulius tremellosus, and Porodisculus pendulus were found to produce substantial amounts of L-malic acid as a main metabolic product, along with small quantities of oxalic and other acids in shake cultures. Especially, S. commune and M. tremellosus may be employed as malic acid-producing species.