title: Fungal catabolism of crown gall opines.
abstract: This study was conducted to determine the capacities of 37 fungi to utilize various crown gall opines as their sole carbon and nitrogen source. One strain of Fusarium solani, two of Cylindrocarpon destructans, and six of Cylindrocarpon heteronema catabolized octopine, mannopine, octopinic acid, succinamopine, or a combination of these opines. One C. heteronema and one Fusarium dimerum strain grew only on succinamopine. None of the fungal isolates had the ability to grow on nopaline. The catabolism of opines by fungi was confirmed by the disappearance of the opine from the growth medium and by an increase in final mycelial dry weight with rising initial concentration of test substrate. This study thus shows that the catabolism of opines is not restricted to bacteria.
authors.affiliation: Département des Sols and Département de Phytologie, Faculté des Sciences de l'Agriculture et de l'Alimentation, Université Laval, Ste-Foy, Québec, Canada, G1K 7P4, and Department of Botany, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7612.
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Beauchamp
authors.forename: W S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Chilton
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dion
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Antoun