page_title: State microbe
section_title: Introduction
hierarchical_section_title: State microbe / Illinois 2019: Penicillium rubens NRRL 1951, pending / Introduction
context_page_description: A state microbe is a microorganism used as an official state symbol. Several U.S. states have honored microorganisms by nominating them to become official state symbols. The first state to declare an Official State Microbe is Oregon which chose Saccharomyces cerevisiae as the Official Microbe of the State of Oregon in 2013 for its significance to the craft beer industry in Oregon. One of the first proponents of State Microbes was microbiologist Moselio Schaechter, who, in 2010, commented on Official Microbes for the American Society for Microbiology's blog "Small Things Considered" as well as on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered".
context_section_description: The world's first antibiotic, penicillin, is produced by a strain of the mold Penicillium rubens (formerly Penicillium chrysogenum). Though the history of penicillin is centuries long, Scottish physician Alexander Fleming is usually credited with initiating the modern era of penicillin discovery, research, and development when he found the mold (Penicillium notatum) rowing on a culture plate in his laboratory in 1928.  Penicillin is effective on gram-positive bacteria. The antibiotic-producing strains of Penicillium in the early years produced relatively low yields of unstable penicillin. The yields were so low that urine from treated patients was collected and the penicillin remaining extracted and reused. Major breakthroughs came in the years between 1941 and 1943, when higher yielding strains were isolated. The strain having the highest production was found on a moldy cantaloupe in Peoria, IL.  WW2 necessitated moving of the work on penicillin to the United States. The byproducts of alcohol production had been used for growing mold cultures in the past and the Ag Lab in Peoria, IL had access to these.  After the isolation trials selected the most promising mold strain, methods for the industrialized production of penicillin were developed at the USDA (then Northern Regional Research Laboratory, NRRL, now National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, NCAUR) in Peoria, Illinois. The mass production techniques developed in Illinois enabled the United States and its allies to have penicillin available for the D-Day invasion in 1944.
caption: Penicillin continues to have a profound effect on infectious disease.
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