Mucor indicus can be used to produce ethanol from a variety of sugars, including pentose's. An extract of it, produced by autolysis, could replace yeast extract in culture medium with improved production of ethanol. At 10 g l(-1), the extract gave a higher ethanol yield (0.47 g g(-1)) and productivity (0.71 g l(-1) h(-1)) compared to medium containing yeast extract (yield 0.45 g g(-1); productivity 0.67 g l(-1) h(-1)).