Isolation, composition, and structure of cell walls of Trichophyton mentagrophytes

Abstract

Isolation of the cell walls from Trichophyton mentagrophytes was carried out by disrupting the hyphae with a Ribi cell fractionator, followed by a sucrose density gradient centrifugation and then by four separate enzymatic degradations. Chemical analyses of the purified cell wall material showed that glucose (36.2%) and glucosamine (30.4%) were the principal components, while mannose (11.7%), peptide (7.8%), and lipid (6.6%) were minor. Only a trace of phosphorus (0.1%) was detected.