title: Carbohydrate fermentation by three species of polycentric ruminal fungi from cattle and water buffalo in tropical Australia.
abstract: Fructose, glucose and xylose were the only monosaccharides to be fermented by the polycentric fungi, Orpinomyces joyonii (three cattle isolates) and O. intercalaris (two cattle isolates) and Anaeromyces spp. (four cattle isolates and two water buffalo isolates). Both Orpinomyces spp. utilised a similar range of oligosaccharides and polysaccharides by fermenting cellobiose, gentiobiose, lactose, maltose, sucrose, cellulose, glycogen, starch and xylan. In contrast, there was considerable variation in carbohydrate fermentation amongst Anaeromyces spp., with only cellobiose, gentiobiose and cellulose being fermented by all strains. Formate, acetate and ethanol were the major fermentation end-products formed from glucose by all polycentric fungi. In addition, Anaeromyces spp. produced considerable amounts of lactate, although only small amounts were formed by Orpinomyces spp. This difference was explained by the low specific activity for lactate dehydrogenase in Orpinomyces spp. Several Anaeromyces spp. also produced malate as a significant end-product of glucose fermentation. Fermentation of specifically-labelled Z14C]glucose molecules by polycentric fungi showed that hexose was catabolised by both polycentric and monocentric fungi via the glycolysis pathway with end-products being derived from the following carbon atoms: lactate and malate (C1-C3; C4-C6), acetate and ethanol (C1-C2; C5-C6), CO2 and formate (C3; C4). The results were compared to those obtained for monocentric and polycentric fungi isolated from temperate climate ruminants.
authors.affiliation: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Division of Animal Production, Prospect, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Gordon