Polyuronides as Structural Components of Cell Walls of Fungi and Green Algae

Abstract

X-RAY diffraction studies of the products of the cell walls of yeasts and hyphal fungi have revealed several new components in the latter¹, including an unknown product in the mycelial walls of Phycomyces blakesleeanus. This was revealed by its diffraction rings, which, together with those of chitin, were present in X-ray diagrams of walls treated with boiling 2 per cent HCl (Fig, 1a). The product was soluble in warm dilute alkali, could be reprecipitated by acidifying and was also isolated in a different manner¹. It then produced an X-ray diagram similar to that in Fig. 1b, with four diffraction rings corresponding to the spacings in the first column of Table 1. Fig. 1b actually shows the diffraction pattern of the same product obtained from acid-treated walls of the fibrous exoperidium layer of a species of Geaster. The same diffraction lines could also be distinguished among those of chitin in the residue left after the walls of the yeast Sporobolomyces roseus had been treated with acid. This wall component is evidently widely distributed among different groups of fungi.