Spore cultures

Ten glass fermenters of 2 L. contents were inoculated with a submerged spore culture made as in Example 2. The fermenters contained each 1.3 L. nutrient solution A containing 10% saccharose, 1.5% ammonium citrate, 0.05% KH2P04, 0.03% MgS04, 0.001% FeS04 and 0.0004% ZnS04 in tap water (pH 5.5 sterilization 30 min. at 0.5 at above atmospheric). 

Culture investigations regarding inoculum seed production were first made in the laboratory. In these studies spore cultures were employed for... 

STRAINS Available from commercial and private slocks. The American Type Culture Collection has several strains. Although few spawn companies sell strains of L. nuda, tissue and spore cultures are easily obtained from wild specimens. Nevertheless, there are a limited number of productive strains currently in circulation. 

Psilocybe cyanescens has a mycelium that is typically whitish and strandy (rhizomorphic). Tissue and spore cultures are easy to obtain. Outdoor colonies can be maintained for years with minimal effort and produce two to three flushes within a season. 

However, not all of these alternatives are applicable to all micro-organisms thus the use of spore cultures is restricted to micro-organisms that produce large numbers of easily harvestable spores. 

Because of the way that resting cultures, spore cultures, and immobilized cultures are set up for use in biotransformation, the number of cells per unit volume of such preparations can be adjusted by appropriate dilution to any required level. In each case the optimum number of cells per unit volume in such preparations will need to be established empirically for a particular biotransformation. 

The active enzyme complement in most spore cultures is singularly unresponsive to changes in pH and temperature. This probably is a reflection of the fact that spores were evolved to be thick-walled cell forms, highly resistant to considerable extremes of environmental circumstances. 

Acetate Agar 2, Gorodkowa, and the V-8 media are described by Yarrow (1998), and the enriched yeast extract-malt extract medium was originally described by van der Walt and van Kerken (1961). The staining procedure for spore cultures using malachite green is from Yarrow (1998). 

B. subtilis was purchased from the American Type Culture Collection (Manassas, VA). Spore cultures were cultivated by spreading the vegetative... 

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