Observations of Gonapodya in Pure Culture: Growth, Development and Cell Wall Characterization

Abstract

Gonapodya prolifera was isolated from a pond in Athens, Georgia, and its development in pure culture is reported for the first time. While the fungus grew well on a diversity of media, the morphology was closest to published descriptions when the fungus was grown on dogwood fruits with twigs held under reduced oxygen conditions. The distributions of chitin, cellulose, glycogen and N-acetyl-D-galactosamine residues in the cytoplasm, cell walls and pseudosepta of freeze substituted hyphae were studied with gold-complexed enzyme and lectin probes. The presence of cellulose in the cell walls of this member of the Chytridiomycetes was substantiated by compositional and methylation analyses of a cell wall extraction that was selective for cellulose. The observation that Helix pomatia agglutinin binds to glycogen in thin section is discussed, as is the first reported detection of cellulose in a member of the Chytridiomycetes.