Erythritol uptake and metabolism were compared in wild-type mycelium and a
dome
morphological mutant of the wood-rotting mushroom
Schizophyllum commune
. Wild-type mycelium utilized glucose, certain hexitols, and pentitols including ribitol, as well as
d
-erythrose, erythritol, and glycerol as sole carbon sources for growth. The
dome
mutant utilized all of these compounds except
d
-erythrose and erythritol. Erythritol- or glycerol-grown wild-type mycelium incorporated erythritol into various cellular constituents, whereas glucose-grown cells lagged considerably before initiation of erythritol uptake. This acquisition was inhibited by cycloheximide.
Dome
mycelium showed behavior similar to wild-type in uptake of erythritol after growth on glucose or glycerol, except that erythritol was not further catabolized. Enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism were compared in cell extracts of glucose-cultured wild-type mycelium and
dome
. Enzymes of hexose monophosphate catabolism, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)-dependent sugar alcohol dehydrogenases, and reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH)-coupled erythrose reductase were demonstrated in both. The occurrence of erythrose reductase was unaffected by the nature of the growth carbon source, showed optimal activity at
p
H 7, and generated NAD phosphate and erythritol as products of the reaction. Glycerol-,
d
-erythrose-, or erythritol-grown wild-type mycelium contained an NAD-dependent erythritol dehydrogenase absent in glucose cells. Erythritol dehydrogenase activity was optimal at
p
H 8.8 and produced erythrulose during NAD reduction. Glycerol-growth of
dome
mycelium induced the erythritol uptake system, but a functional erythritol dehydrogenase could not be demonstrated. Neither wild-type nor
dome
mycelium produced erythritol dehydrogenase during growth on ribitol. Erythritol metabolism in wild-type cells of
S. commune
, therefore, involves an NADPH-dependent reduction of
d
-erythrose to produce erythritol, followed by induction of an NAD-coupled erythritol dehydrogenase to form erythrulose. A deficiency in erythritol dehydrogenase rather than permeability barriers explains why
dome
cannot employ erythritol as sole carbon source for mycelial growth.