[Effect of colchicine and other polyploidogenic factors in contact with the deep vegetative mycelium of the fungus Trichothecium roseum--producer of the antibiotic trichothecin and proteolytic enzymes].

Colchicine, boric acid, and camphor were used to produce viable cultures of Trichothecium roseum actively producing the antibiotic, by treating the submerged vegetative mycelium of the fungus with these compounds. Colchicine (0.5--1.0%), boric acid (0.25--2.00%), and camphor (0.25--1.50%) were added to the nutrient medium before it was inoculated with conidia or vegetative mycelium; later, the submerged mycelium was transferred to slanted agar. The cultures were characterized by a high number of the nuclei in the conidia, a low ratio of the plasma to the nuclei, a high rate of growth, and a high antibiotic activity. In sharply varying conditions of nutrition, such polynuclear forms had an adaptive advantage as compared to the parent forms. The polynuclear cultures are regarded to be biologically equal to polyploid forms.