Anthony P. J. Trinci

Anthony "Tony" Peter John Trinci (1936, Swindon – 7 October 2020) was a British mycologist, botanist, and microbiologist. He was one of the world's leading experts on fungi.

Biography

Anthony P. J. Trinci's parents, both born in Italy, had a troubled marriage and separated before his birth, which occurred after his mother immigrated to England. His father, a builder, lived in Italy, and Anthony Trinci reached the age of 11 before he saw his father. Anthony Trinci grew up in Barking, London. During WW II, a V-1 flying bomb passed through his bedroom (while he was absent), brought down the ceiling, but failed to explode until it landed about 100 yards down the road and killed several people.

After education at St Bonaventure's Catholic School, he studied botany at Durham University (1959) and focused on fungal physiology for his MSc. After receiving his degree, he was a science teacher in Rayleigh, Essex. However, he soon quit his employment and returned to Durham University to study for a PhD. He completed his PhD with Geoffrey Howard Banbury (1920–1983) as his thesis advisor. Trinci's thesis is entitled Studies of the growth and tropisms of Aspergillus giganteus and other fungi.

In 1964 Trinci was appointed to a lectureship in the microbiology department of Queen Elizabeth College (QEC). At QEC he did research on fungal growth kinetics and physiology. He developed new methods involving time-lapse photography that enabled "direct observation of colony growth and organisation of the mycelium by hyphal tip growth and branch initiation".

He resigned from QEC to accept in 1981 an appointment as chair of cryptogamic botany at the University of Manchester. There he contributed to the development of the first integrated school of biological sciences. This innovation was subsequently adopted in most of the UK's universities. At the University of Manchester he became a dean and then pro-vice-chancellor.

Trinchi's knowledge of mycology was applied to commercial applications of filamentous fungi. He made substantial contributions to the development of Quorn and to Dupont's addition of fungal enzymes to commercial animal feed. His work with DuPont was the outcome of a decades-long collaboration with Michael K. Theodorou, a rumen microbiologist. Their collaboration elucidated the life cycles of anaerobic fungi in the gastrointestinal tracts of large, mammalian herbivores. A phytase enzyme, isolated from Penicillium species, is useful in releasing phosphate in animal feeds.

Trinci was the president of the British Mycological Society for the academic year 1991–1992 and was elected the president of the Microbiology Society in 1994. He was awarded the Marjory Stephenson Prize in 1994. He was an editor of the Journal of General Biology (renamed in 1994 Microbiology) for four years beginning in 1990.

He supported David Denning's creation of the University of Manchester's Manchester Fungal Infections Group, an international centre for fungal infection biology. Trinci was a trustee of the Fungal Infection Institute from September 2006 to January 2011.

In January 1961 he married Margaret Doherty, whom he met at Durham University. Upon his death in 2020 he was survived by his widow, their three children, John, Sarah and Rachel, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Selected publications

Articles

• Righelato, R. C.; Trinci, A. P. J.; Pirt, S. J.; Peat, A. (1968). "The Influence of Maintenance Energy and Growth Rate on the Metabolic Activity, Morphology and Conidiation of Penicillium chrysogenum". Journal of General Microbiology. 50 (3): 399–412. doi:10.1099/00221287-50-3-399. PMID 5652074.
• Trinci, A. P. J. (1969). "A Kinetic Study of the Growth of Aspergillus nidulans and Other Fungi". Journal of General Microbiology. 57 (1): 11–24. doi:10.1099/00221287-57-1-11. PMID 5822157.
• Trinci, A. P. J. (1971). "Influence of the Width of the Peripheral Growth Zone on the Radial Growth Rate of Fungal Colonies on Solid Media". Journal of General Microbiology. 67 (3): 325–344. doi:10.1099/00221287-67-3-325.
• Gull, K.; Trinci, A. P. J. (1973). "Griseofulvin inhibits Fungal Mitosis". Nature. 244 (5414): 292–294. doi:10.1038/244292a0. S2CID 4292787.
• Fiddy, C.; Trinci, A. P. J. (1976). "Mitosis, Septation, Branching and the Duplication Cycle in Aspergillus nidulans". Journal of General Microbiology. 97 (2): 169–184. doi:10.1099/00221287-97-2-169. PMID 796408.
• Prosser, J. I.; Trinci, A. P. J. (1979). "A Model for Hyphal Growth and Branching". Journal of General Microbiology. 111 (1): 153–164. doi:10.1099/00221287-111-1-153. PMID 379276.
• Lowe, S. E.; Theodorou, M. K.; Trinci, A. P. J.; Hespell, R. B. (1985). "Growth of Anaerobic Rumen Fungi on Defined and Semi-defined Media Lacking Rumen Fluid". Microbiology. 131 (9): 2225–2229. doi:10.1099/00221287-131-9-2225.
• Lowe, S. E.; Griffith, G. G.; Milne, A.; Theodorou, M. K.; Trinci, A. P. J. (1987). "The Life Cycle and Growth Kinetics of an Anaerobic Rumen Fungus". Microbiology. 133 (7): 1815–1827. doi:10.1099/00221287-133-7-1815.
• Milne, Andrew; Theodorou, Michael K.; Jordan, Matthew G.C.; King-Spooner, Catherine; Trinci, Anthony P.J. (1989). "Survival of anaerobic fungi in feces, in saliva, and in pure culture". Experimental Mycology. 13 (1). Elsevier BV: 27–37. doi:10.1016/0147-5975(89)90005-4. ISSN 0147-5975.
• Trinci, Anthony P.J. (1992). "Myco-protein: A twenty-year overnight success story". Mycological Research. 96: 1–13. doi:10.1016/S0953-7562(09)80989-1.
• Davies, D. R.; Theodorou, M. K.; Lawrence, M. I. G.; Trinci, A. P. J. (1993). "Distribution of anaerobic fungi in the digestive tract of cattle and their survival in faeces". Journal of General Microbiology. 139 (6): 1395–1400. doi:10.1099/00221287-139-6-1395. PMID 8360630.
• Trinci, Anthony P.J.; Davies, David R.; Gull, Keith; Lawrence, Michelle I.; Bonde Nielsen, Bettina; Rickers, André; Theodorou, Michael K. (1994). "Anaerobic fungi in herbivorous animals". Mycological Research. 98 (2): 129–152. doi:10.1016/S0953-7562(09)80178-0.
• Theodorou, Michael K.; Mennim, Georgina; Davies, David R.; Zhu, Wei-Yun; Trinci, Anthony P. J.; Brookman, Jayne L. (1996). "Anaerobic fungi in the digestive tract of mammalian herbivores and their potential for exploitation". Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. 55 (3): 913–926. doi:10.1079/PNS19960088. PMID 9004333. S2CID 45667234.
• Trinci, A. P. J. (2000). "A Study of the Kinetics of Hyphal Extension and Branch Initiation of Fungal Mycelia". Microbiology. 81 (1): 225–236. doi:10.1099/00221287-81-1-225. PMID 4274556.
• Brookman, J. L.; Mennim, G.; Trinci, A. P. J.; Theodorou, M. K.; Tuckwell, D. S. (2000). "Identification and characterization of anaerobic gut fungi using molecular methodologies based on ribosomal ITS1 and 18S rRNA the Gen Bank accession numbers for the sequences determined in this work are given in Methods". Microbiology. 146 (2): 393–403. doi:10.1099/00221287-146-2-393. PMID 10708378.

Books

• Moore, David; Robson, Geoffrey D.; Trinci, Anthony P. J. (14 July 2011). 21st Century Guidebook to Fungi with CD. ISBN 9781107006768.
• Kuhn, Paul J.; Trinci, Anthony PJ; Jung, Michel J.; Goosey, Michael W.; Copping, Leonard G., eds. (6 December 2012). Biochemistry of Cell Walls and Membranes in Fungi. Springer. ISBN 9783642742156.

External links

• "Anthony P. J. Trinci Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications - Justia Patents Search".