Comparative Physiology of Respiration in Aquatic Fungi

A comparative study of terminal respiration was undertaken in five genera of aquatic fungi in the Leptomitales. The cytochrome system in this group of fungi contained cytochrome a-a₃ (605 nm), cytochrome c (551 nm), cytochrome b (557 nm), and cytochomo b (564 nm). A representative of each of three aerobic genera, Leptomitus, Apodachlya, and Sapromyces, had a total cytochrome content of about 2×10^?10 mol/mg dry weight. An endogenous respiration rate of 21 μl O₂ uptake/ (h × mg dry weight) at 21.7°C was found in Leptomitus and Apodmhlya and 14 in Sapromyces. The strain belonging to the fermenlative genus Mindeniella had approximately one-third of the total cytochrome content and one-third of the endogenous respiration rate observed in Leptomitus and Apodachlya. Mindeniella and Sapromyces contained less total cytochrome when grown under reduced oxygen tension than when grown in air. Only about one-half of the b-type cytochrome was redueible by endogenous substrates. Both cytochrome a₃ and an unidentified pigment bound CO. The endogenous respiration of Leptomitus, Apodachlyo, and Sapromyces was strongly Inhibited by sodium cyanide, sodium azide, antimycin A, and sodium fluoroacetate.