This paper studies how the fungus Fusarium venenatum A3/5 grows on a range of simple sugars and on an expired functional drink. The authors wanted to know which carbon sources give fast growth, which give more biomass, and what byproducts the fungus makes while eating those sugars.

They used a high‑throughput microlitre cultivation system to run many small batch tests. The team tested single sugars, pairs of sugars, and a real expired drink supplied by an industry partner. The drink was analysed by liquid chromatography and found to contain sucrose, glucose, fructose and citric acid. To keep conditions consistent they filtered media through 0.22 µm filters, added a small amount of Tween 80 (0.1%) to reduce variability, and adjusted the drink pH to 6.6 because its original pH (about 3–4) stopped growth.

To compare conditions they fitted the growth data with modified Gompertz models — a mathematical curve used to describe how populations grow — and extracted metrics such as maximum specific growth rate and milestone times. They also measured sugars and typical byproducts over time, including ethanol and organic acids, to link growth phases to where carbon was going.

The results showed clear patterns. Rapidly consumed sugars such as glucose and sucrose supported high growth rates but lower final biomass per unit carbon and produced more fermentative byproducts. By contrast, fructose and xylose led to slower growth but higher biomass yield and less byproduct formation. Galactose and lactose gave unusual dynamics that suggest the fungus faced both transport limits (getting sugar into the cell) and metabolic induction limits (turning on the right enzymes). In mixed‑sugar tests the fungus generally used sugars one after the other (sequential use). When glucose was used first, it changed how well the second sugar was used later — a carry‑over effect the authors call metabolic inheritance or an environmental shift effect — and this often produced stunted two‑phase (diauxic) growth and low yield from the second sugar. Notably, the expired functional drink supported the fastest growth and the highest biomass level of all tested feeds, with less fermentative overflow and more ethanol reassimilation than a synthetic medium that had the same four sugars.