Cultivation of the marine basidiomycete Nia vibrissa (Moore & Meyers)

An isolate of Nia vibrissa was fermented in liquid shake cultures and on agar. Suitable cultivation conditions are a prerequisite for the continuous synthesis of biological active metabolites. The growth response of N. vibrissa to four selected media and several environmental factors, such as salinity, pH and light, was studied. The amount of produced mycelia and the quantity and activity of the organic extracts were parameters for the optimal cultivation method. The ethanolic extracts of the mycelia of N. vibrissa grown in all the investigated nutrient media, showed an influence of the duration of cultivation on the biological activity. A synthetic medium with a pH of 7.5 was the preferred nutrient medium. The addition of wood and incubation under continuous light had no effect on growth but increased the activity of the ethanolic extract. The optimal agar medium salinity for colony growth was in the range between 5 and 25‰. At a salinity of 150‰ growth was not observed.