Production of Oxalic Acid by a Wood-Rotting Fungus.

The wood-rotting fungus Pleurotus ostreatus NRRL 2366 was grown successfully in submerged shaker cultures in which it produced oxalic acid from simple carbohydrates as efficiently as did Aspergillus niger. P. ostreatus also produced oxalic acid from mixtures of sawdust and CaCO(3), and from the solid residue from the acid hydrolysis of wood when the culture was supplemented with inorganic nutrients. A. niger produced oxalic acid from the liquid hydrolysate.