Trichosporon aneurinolyticum, a new thiamine-destroying fungus.

The production of thiaminase by a bacterium of the intestinal tract as an etiologic factor of beriberi has received considerable study by Japanese work ers. Chang (1) observed that when a thiamine solution was placed in the sigmoidal colon of a patient having habitual constipation combined with beri beri, the vitamin soon disappeared. The first discovery of a thiaminase producing micro-organism was made by Matsukawa and Misawa (2) and it was designated as Bacillus thiaminolyticus Matsukawa et Misawa. Thereafter, two other thiamine-destroying bacteria, Bacillus aneurinolyticus. Kimura et Aoyama and Clostridium thiaminolyticum Kimura et Liao were found by Kimura et al. (3, 4) Jacobsohn and Rosado (5) reported the thiaminase in Candida albicans, Lenzites quercina and Ctenomyces interdigitalis, whereby the characteristics of the enzyme were not decided, leaving unsettled whether the enzyme was really thiaminase or thiaminokinase, etc. A thiaminase-carrying new fungus (6, 7) was found by the authors. Its characteristics resembled largely those of Trichosporon cutaneum. In this paper, the thiaminase of the new fungus and its mycological char acterics are described.