[Oil and fat metabolism and the biosynthesis of penicillin]

When grown on media with vegetable oils the producer of penicillin was more sensitive to changes in the conditions of mass transfer. Their worsening resulted in a more significant decrease in the level of the mycelium productivity than that of media containing animal fats. The observed differences were associated with the fact that the rate of consumption of readily assimilated fat substrates, for instance sunflower oil, by the cells was sufficiently high even at defective aeration and agitation. Their further oxidation in the mycelium was retarded which resulted in increasing lipid levels in the cells, irreversible destruction of the mitochondria, followed by further lowering of the oxidation processes in the cells, and inhibition of basic and secondary metabolism. On media containing whale oil there were also changes in the structure of the hyphae and first of all mitochondria of Penicillium chrysogenum and inhibited oxidation of fats evident from fractional composition of the mycelium lipids. However, all these changes were less pronounced because of the low rate of the whale oil assimilation by the cells.