Chemical Fractionation of the Cell Walls of Mycelial and Yeast-like forms of Mucor rouxii: A Comparative Study of the Polysaccharide and Glycoprotein Components

Abstract

SUMMARY: Walls of the mycelial (M) and yeast-like (Y) forms of Mucor rouxii were prepared with the carbohydrate labelled with 14C and the peptide and polypeptide labelled with 3H. Walls were extracted by sequential treatment with EDTA, NaOH and acetic acid. The polymers released were separated by glass-fibre paper electrophoresis and gel filtration which showed the presence, in both M and Y walls, of high molecular weight strongly acidic polysaccharides, high molecular weight weakly acidic glycoproteins and low molecular weight glycopeptides, which are weakly acidic or neutral. The strongly acidic polysaccharides from both M and Y forms contained d-glucuronic acid, d-mannose, d-galactose and l-fucose; the glycoproteins and glycopeptides from both forms had d-mannose as the major sugar. Y walls gave in addition a weakly acidic polysaccharide containing d-glucuronic acid and d-mannose. The strongly acidic polysaccharides of the M form contained a greater proportion of d-galactose and l-fucose than did corresponding polymers of the Y form. The differences in composition of these polymers are discussed in terms of the possible differences in their structure and the relationship to morphology.