„One sometimes finds what one is not looking for” (Alexander Fleming)

In 1928, Scottish physician Alexander Fleming observed that fewer staphylococci grew on an agar plate: mold had spread there as a contaminant. He concluded that this fungus secreted a substance into the agar that inhibited bacterial growth.
 
Other scientists had also described similar observations. The fungus was later identified as Penicillium notatum and the substance it secreted was named penicillin. Fleming suspected that penicillin would destroy the bacteria—today we know that this antibiotic disrupts the cell wall synthesis of bacteria, preventing them from growing and multiplying.
 
Ten years later, pathologist Howard Florey and chemist Ernst Chain isolated and purified penicillin as a substance from Penicillium notatum. Doctors at Oxford Hospital treated their first patient in 1941: a scratch on the face of police officer Albert Alexander had become infected and led to a high fever. The novel penicillin immediately lowered the fever, restored his appetite, and the wounds began to heal. Nevertheless, the patient died a few days later – the penicillin supply had been used up too quickly.
 
In the same year, researchers at the Northern Regional Research Laboratories in Illinois (USA) isolated a strain of Penicillium from a moldy cantaloupe melon. It yielded sufficient quantities of penicillin to treat infected soldiers and civilians. Even today, all industrially used penicillin producers worldwide are derived from the cantaloupe strain and, when grown in fermenters, produce hundreds of thousands of times more penicillin than the original strain. Penicillin and its synthetic derivatives are still the most commonly used antibiotics against bacterial infections. Annual global production is around 50,000 tons. Fleming, Florey, and Chain were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1945 for the discovery of penicillin and its healing effect on infectious diseases.

 

Sexuality and cheese aroma

Penicillium forms thread-like structures with characteristic spores. This makes them look like small brushes (Latin: penicillus). Penicillium species are therefore also known as brush molds. Penicillium reproduces asexually via these spores, which are often colorful. However, in 2008, researchers surprisingly identified two sexes (crossbreeding types). Sexual crossbreeding allows production strains with new properties to be bred.
 
Cheese producers want to use this method to breathe new life into degenerated fungal strains. This is because brush molds produce the taste and smell of cheese types such as Camembert, Brie, and blue cheese. Their white, semi-firm “rind” consists mainly of Penicillium camemberti, which is also responsible for the soft, buttery consistency of Brie and Camembert. Penicillium roqueforti is used in the production of the cheese of the same name; it produces enzymes such as proteases and lipases, which break down milk casein and form volatile compounds that give the cheese its taste, aroma, and texture and protect it from unwanted contamination. The spores of these fungi are produced on an industrial scale and added to the cheese during ripening, where they germinate and grow. French researchers report that the strains used are losing vitality. Crossbreeding with “fresh” wild-type strains could rejuvenate cheese producers and thus preserve an important cultural asset.

 

Insect repellents and pharmaceuticals

Penicillium also plays a major role in biotechnology: Penicillium species produce enzymes that conveniently enter the culture medium directly during fermentation. Penicillium citrinum, for example, produces pectinases and cellulases, which are used in the food industry to clarify fruit juices and in the textile industry to pre-treat fabrics.
 
Other antibiotic products are also produced with Penicillium today. Penicillium coprobium produces the meroterpenoid pyripyropene A. An insecticide developed from this substance is specifically effective against harmful insects such as aphids and whiteflies. 
 
As early as 1893, the Italian Bartolomeo Gosio described mycophenolic acid from Penicillium brevicompactum. He isolated it as the first antibiotic product in human history. Today, mycophenolic acid is used as an immunosuppressant in transplants and autoimmune diseases because it specifically inhibits the proliferation of lymphocytes. Penicillium, Microbe of the Year 2026, is a true all-rounder in medicine, food production, and biotechnology.

 

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