Role of Marine Fungi in the Biochemistry of the Oceans. I. Establishment of Quantitative Technique for Cultivation, Growth Measurement and Production of Inocula

Recent mycological studies from our laboratory have dealt with the attack by marine lignicolous species upon wood and other cellulosic material submerged in the sea (7, 8, 9, 10). The possible significance of this microbial activity in studies of degradative processes in the marine environment has been considered. However, the attack upon lignocellulose materials, ubiquitous as these are in the plants and even animals of the oceans, is believed to be only one of the many suspected activities of the marine mycota. There is a strong likelihood that other polymeric substances are degraded, that smaller organic molecules are metabolized, and that inorganic materials are transformed. It is further postulated that these minute fungal filaments may coexist intimately with higher forms of marine life both physically and biochemically. In view of these observations, and a need for a better understanding of basic aspects of marine mycology in general, it is essential to develop fundamental quantitative data on physiological processes of marine fungi. Previous investigations of the marine lignicolous fungi, including the work of Barghoorn and Linder (1), Ritchie (12), and Johnson et al. (4), have failed to develop standard procedures for the production of inocula and for the accurate and reproducible measurement of the mycelial growth. In a more recent study, Gustafsson and Fries (3), using dry weight determinations, reported observations on the nutrition of several species of marine fungi. However, in this latter work the abbreviated description of the technique employed precluded judgment of the investigation itself. Thus, it is apparent that a standardization of analytical procedures in the marine mycological field is necessary to