Figure 1. Schematic of cell wall organization pre- and post-neutrophil attack.

Under homeostatic conditions, hyphal cell wall is composed of three main polysaccharide components (mannan, β-glucan and chitin) but most chitin and β-glucan are inaccessible for recognition because it lies beneath the mannan layer. Post-attack there is loss of cell wall mannoprotein and increased levels of chitin. These changes lead to greater surface recognition of β-glucan and perhaps also chitin.