Penicillium chrysogenum is best know as the wonder drug that has saved millions of lives the world over, Penicillin. Alexander Fleming first noticed that it prohibited the growth of gram-positive bacteria in 1928, but did not investigate further. Finally, in 1938 it's usefulness as a antibiotic was put to the test by Ernst Chainand and Howard Florey. It quickly became the most widely used antibiotic. The 1945 noble prize in Physiology/medicne was awarded to the three scientists.
P. chrysogenum has a cotton/wooly-like appearance which starts out white in color, but this changes to different shades of yellow, pink, grey, or blue/green as the fungus matures. P. chrysogenum prefers to live in dark and damp area to avoid drying out. It commonly grows in soil, decaying plat matter, and forest areas in temperate zones. Like most fungi, P. chrysogenum relies on the wind to disperse it's spores.
Penicillin is used as an antibiotic because it's reaction to gram-positive bacteria's cell walls. The walls are made out of peptidoglcan, which is broken down by the enzymes P. chrysogenum releases. The damaged cell well is what ultimately kills the bacteria.
Though P. chrysogenum has been one of the most useful antibiotics in history, it is losing it's potency. The widespread uses of Penicillin has exerted selection pressure on infectious gram-positive bacteria. Thus the bacteria who were the most resistant to Penicillin survived and bread.
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Kitzmann, Stephanie . (2008). Penicillin The “Wonder Drug” and General Information. Penicillium chrysogenum Retrieved From: http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2008/kitzmann_step/Index.htm
