Publication details
On the nature and formation of the fibrillar nets produced by protoplasts of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in liquid media: an electronmicroscopic, X-ray diffration and chemical study.
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 1976 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | J. Gen. Microbiol. |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Microbiology, virology |
| Keywords | yeast protoplasts, fibrillar nets, X-ray diffraction analysis, electron microscopy |
| Description | The nets produced by protoplasts of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in liquid culture media consisted of microfibrils abou 20 nm wide, forming flat, fairly straight bundles of variable width and length, up to about 500 nm wide and 4 micrometres long. Theay were not attacked by chitinase or dilute acids, but the net structure disappeared in 3 % (w/v)NaOH, leaving about 60 % dry wt of the nets as partly microfibrillar clusters. The X-ray powder pattern from the nets, in contrast to that from normal walls, exhibited a set of well-defined rings which indetified two micro-crystalline constituents: chitin and unbranched chains of beta-1,3-linked D-glucose residues. These latter were the alkali-soluble fraction. The X-ray diagram of the glucan, corresponding to that of paramylon, indicated as in vitro crystal modification. Up to 15% dry wt was chitin which was formed de novo bx the protoplasts. A fine net structure of microfibrils about 7.5 to 10 nm thick with meshes about 20 to 60 nm wide was demonstrated in normal walls, forming the entire inner layer and consisting mainly of yeast glucan. This glucan and chitin were only slightly crystalline in these walls. The feature of the glucan and chitin of the protoplast nets indicate that eńzymes active in normal wall formation were differentially removed or inactivated by the liquid medium. |