Monitored Environment System to Control Cell Growth, Morphology, and Metabolic Rate in Fungi by Oxidation-Reduction Potentials

Abstract

A device for the adjustment, maintenance, and monitoring of a desired oxidation-reduction potential in a liquid environment is described. The filamentous species, Penicillium lilacinum and Trichophyton schoenleinii , and the dimorphic species, Histoplasma capsulatum , developed budding yeastlike cells when grown in a liquid medium with a low oxidation-reduction potential. When the organisms were inoculated into fresh medium, they returned to the filamentous condition as the oxidation-reduction potential was restored to a more positive (oxidizing) environment.