Induced Formation of Lipase by Geotrichum candidwin Link

It was recognized that Geotrichurn candidum Link which was selected as the efficient lipase producer formed lipase only in the presence of substrate or its relating compounds such as oils or fatty acids in a cultivation medium.From the experimental results obtained by the cultivation of the microorganism and also by using of washed cells, it seemed that lipase was formed inducibly.It is likely that the produced lipase is localized around the cell wall and membrane and it is released from the cells after a certain period from the inducible synthesis.Neumerous papers relating to lipase-produc ing microorganism have been published and most of them were concerned with constitu tive enzyme formation by the organisms.Whereas, as previously reported,1) it was found that a strain of Geotrichum candidum Link inducibly produced lipase only in the presence of the specific substances such as oils or fatty acids in a cultivation medium.As far as the knowledge we obtained about the inducible formation of lipase, Goodman2) found the fact that the lipase productions by some kinds of fungi notably increased in the medium containing oil and he assumed that this fact was due to adaptive formation of the lipase by those organisms.According to the experimental data described in his paper, however, lipase production was more or less found in the medium without oil.Therefore, it is considered that those facts would not be applied to a case of "induced enzyme syn thesis."It is considered that the observation of the lipase formation by the washed cells of Geotrichum candidum Link would be useful for clarifying the mechanism of the enzyme formation system in a cell of this micro organism.The present study was undertaken to elucidate the mode of lipase fromation by Geotrichum candidum Link.