Studies in the Mechanism of Dehydrogenation by Fusarium Lini Bolley

True alcoholic fermentation of carbohydrates, brought about by the action of undamaged cells, is not limited to the enzyme systems present in yeasts. Among the several other systems of microorganisms which are known to effect this conversion are the Fusaria. Investigation has shown that the enzymatic degradation of carbohydrates by Fusaria does not stop with the production of ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide, but proceeds with dehydrogenation of the alcohol produced. A continued study of dehydrogenations in the sense of the classical postulation (1) has been made with propylene glycol and some of the homologues of ethyl alcohol as substrates. Among the latter were both primary and secondary alcohols which rendered possible an evaluation of the relative rates of dehydrogenation of these different alcoholic groups along with the establishment of the course of their degradation. Up to the present, the greater part of the work on dehydrogenation of higher alcohols by microorganisms has been conducted with different bacteria, of which the acetic acid bacteria (2) are probably best known. Utilization of the more common molds for this work has been limited. Ehrlich (3) obtained valeric acid, as a dissimilation product of amyl alcohol, from cultures of WiZZia anomala. Walti (4) demonstrated that Aspergillus niger mycelia are capable of transforming various glycols into the corresponding cx-ketols.