Abstract
PREVIOUS work in this laboratory1 has shown that the light colour of apples infected with Penicillium expansum (“blue-mould”) is due to the inhibition by the fungus of the fruit's normal enzymatic browning system. A positive feedback system operates whereby the fungal pectolytic enzymes modify the apple's phenolics to yield inhibitors of apple phenolase (o-diphenol oxidase) and the associated biochemical defence system. But the problems of the initial establishment of fungal growth remain and I wish to report evidence that the fungus secretes its own phenolase inhibitor until it is sufficiently established to allow the second, major positive feedback system to take over.
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WALKER, J. Phenolase Inhibitor from Cultures of Penicillium expansum which may Play a Part in Fruit Rotting. Nature 227, 298–299 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1038/227298a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/227298a0
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