Measurements of the specific activities of representative enzymes of the pentose phosphate cycle, Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas (EMP) pathway and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle in Coprinus cinereus sporophores at different stages of development indicate that glycolysis is the major route of carbohydrate catabolism throughout sporophore development. Enzymes of the pentose phosphate cycle were always at lower specific activities than the enzymes of the EMP pathway, and the activities of the pentose phosphate cycle enzymes declined drastically as development proceeded. This conflicts with the findings for Agaricus bisporus, but the changes in some enzymes were qualitatively similar to those occurring in the development of sporophores of Schizophyhm commune. A number of enzymes of the TCA cycle were detected, but there was no 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase activity nor increase of isocitrate lyase activity over the basal repressed leve!. However, glutamate decarboxylase and 4-aminobutyrate aminotransferase were detected, suggesting that the inoperative a-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase is by-passed through the glutamate decarboxylation loop. The results are discussed in relation to the changes which also occur in the specific activities of the two glutamate dehydrogenase enzymes during development of the sporophore.

Baudoinia gen. nov. is described to accommodate Torula compniacensis. Reported originally from the walls of buildings near brandy maturation warehouses in Cognac, France, species of Baudoinia are cosmopolitan colonists of exposed surfaces subjected to large diurnal temperature shifts, episodic high relative humidity and wetting, and ambient airborne ethanol. Morphologically B. compniacensis resembles some anamorphic Mycosphaerellaceae in possessing dark brown, nonseptate or uniseptate conidia with coarsely roughened walls that are borne acropetally in unbranched chains and released by schizolytic dehiscence. Analysis of partial nuclear rDNA SSU sequences positions B. compniacensis in the order Capnodiales and reveals that it is most closely related to the microcolonial genus Friedmanniomyces. Heat resistance is induced by brief sublethal temperature exposure.

Currently, the industry-wide trend for viable air sampling in indoor environmental investigations is to use sampling times between 2 and 4 min in duration. Our results support the routine use of a 6-min sampling time where low spore loads are expected, resulting in improved limits of detection.

Arginine synthesis and urea formation via the ornithine cycle occurred in sporophore cap and stipe of Coprinus cinereus. Although urease was found at high activity in mycelium and stipe, it was not detectable in extracts of cap tissue, but arginine biosynthesis was specifically amplified during development of the cap as judged from metabolism of isotopically labelled substrates and increased enzyme activities. Four enzymes, NADP-linked glutamate dehydrogenase, glutamine synthetase, ornithine acetyltransferase and ornithine carbamoyltransferase, were considerably derepressed in developing caps while remaining low (or declining) in activity in the stipes supporting those caps. Co-ordinate regulation of these enzymes could also be demonstrated in vegetative mycelium subjected to particular synthetic growth media. Arginine, alanine and glutamate accumulated in the cap as a result of amplified arginine biosynthesis. A greater than twofold increase in the quantity of urea in the cap was also evident during development, although the concentration of urea remained essentially unchanged. A causal relationship between urea accumulation and water influx into developing cap tissues is suggested. The inflation of the gill hymenium cells accounts for the ' umbrella-like' cap expansion that characterizes Coprinus spp.