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. 1969 Mar;97(3):1036–1041. doi: 10.1128/jb.97.3.1036-1041.1969

Cell Wall Composition of the Yeast and Mycelial Forms of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis

Fuminori Kanetsuna a, Luis M Carbonell a, Ramon E Moreno a,1, Joaquin Rodriguez a
PMCID: PMC249811  PMID: 5776517

Abstract

Isolation and chemical analyses of the cell walls of the yeast (Y form) and mycelial forms (M form) of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis and Blastomyces dermatitidis revealed that their chemical composition is similar and depends on the form. Lipids, chitin, glucans, and proteins are the main constituents of the cell walls of both forms of these fungi. There is no significant difference in the amount of lipids (5 to 10%) and glucans (36 to 47%) contained by the two forms. In both fungi, the Y form has a larger amount of chitin (37 to 48%) than the M form (7 to 18%), whereas the M form has a larger amount of proteins (24 to 41%) than the Y form (7 to 14%). Several properties of the glucan of P. brasiliensis were studied. Almost all of the glucan in the Y form was soluble in 1 n NaOH, was weakly positive in the periodic acid-Schiff reaction, was not hydrolyzed by snail digestive juice, and had α-glycosidic linkage. Glucans of the M form were divided into alkali-soluble (60 to 65%) and alkali-insoluble (35 to 40%) types. The alkali-soluble glucan was similar to that of the Y form; the alkali-insoluble glucan was positive in the periodic acid-Schiff reaction and was hydrolyzed by snail digestive juice.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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