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In 1943, scientists at a US Department of Agriculture laboratory in Peoria, Illinois, found a Penicillium mould on a mouldy cantaloupe melon that made far more of the antibiotic penicillin than the strains they had been using.

USDA Northern Regional Research Laboratory

HealthHistoryScience

The story behind the card

During the Second World War the Allies needed penicillin in huge amounts to treat infected wounds, but Alexander Fleming's original mould produced very little of it. At the Northern Regional Research Laboratory in Peoria, scientists had already raised yields by growing the mould in deep tanks fed with corn steep liquor, a by-product of maize processing, and they were testing moulds sent from around the world. The best one came from a melon bought at a Peoria market, usually credited to the laboratory assistant Mary Hunt. Treated with X-rays and ultraviolet light, its offspring produced far more still, and by the D-Day landings in June 1944 the United States could supply millions of doses. Most penicillin made today still comes from moulds descended from that melon.

Türkçe oku
1943'te Illinois'daki Peoria kentinde, ABD Tarım Bakanlığı'na bağlı bir laboratuvarın bilim insanları küflenmiş bir kavunda bir Penicillium küfü buldu. Bu küf, antibiyotik penisilini o güne kadar kullanılan küflerden çok daha bol üretiyordu.

İkinci Dünya Savaşı'nda Müttefikler, mikrop kapmış yaraları tedavi etmek için çok büyük miktarda penisiline ihtiyaç duyuyordu; oysa Alexander Fleming'in bulduğu küf çok az penisilin üretiyordu. Peoria'daki Kuzey Bölgesel Araştırma Laboratuvarı'nda bilim insanları, küfü mısır işlenirken ortaya çıkan bir yan ürünle beslenen büyük tanklarda üreterek verimi zaten artırmıştı; bir yandan da dünyanın dört bir yanından gönderilen küfleri deniyorlardı. En iyisi, Peoria'da bir pazardan alınan bir kavundan çıktı; kavunu bulan kişinin genellikle laboratuvar asistanı Mary Hunt olduğu söylenir. Bu küf X ışınları ve morötesi ışıkla işlenince ondan türeyen küfler çok daha fazla penisilin üretti. Haziran 1944'teki Normandiya çıkarmasına gelindiğinde ABD milyonlarca doz sağlayabiliyordu. Bugün üretilen penisilinin çoğu hâlâ o kavundaki küfün soyundan gelen küflerden elde ediliyor.

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