[Study of the mycelial carbohydrates of Penicillium chrysogenum and of its inactive mutant].

Metabolism of carbohydrates was studied in Penicillium chrysogenum 194 and in its inactive mutant growing on a defined medium, and also in the washed mycelium of these cultures. The percentage of nitrogen decreased in the mycelium of both strains with aging as a result of the accumulation of carbohydrate-containing substances dissolved in cold and hot hydrochloric acid. The rate of synthesis of these substances in the inactive mutant is higher than in the strain 194. The difference is especially pronounced in experiments with the washed mycelium. Carbohydrates dissolved in the hot acid are assimilated in largest amounts among carbohydrate-containing substances in the mycelium of the strain 194 growing in the conditions of starvation.