Studies of the structure and chemical composition of the cell walls of Vaucheriaceae and Saprolegniaceae

Abstract

The cell walls of members of the Vaucheriaceae and Saprolegniaceae have been examined by X-ray analysis and electron microscopy, and their composition determined by hydrolysis and paper partition chromatography of the hydrolysates. Both differences and similarities between the members of these two species examined are found to supplement the comparative morphological and physiological information at present available. Saprolegnia, Achlya, Brevilegnia and Dictyuchus among the Saprolegniaceae possess hot-water soluble polysaccharides containing glucose residues only. This polysaccharide is not crystallographically identical with the polysaccharide found in Vaucheria sessilis with a similar solubility. The members of the Saprolegniaceae contain large amounts of alkali-soluble polysaccharides in contrast with the negligible amount found in V. sessilis. These polysaccharides are only weakly crystalline, but the indications are that the same polysaccharides may occur throughout the Saprolegniaceae. The alkali-insoluble wall material of Vaucheria species consists of highly crystalline native cellulose with large, apparently randomly arranged, microfibrils. The hydrolysate of this material contains ribose, xylose and arabinose in addition to glucose, presumably representing strongly bound pentosans. Native cellulose also occurs in the Saprolegniaceae but only in small proportion. The bulk of the alkali-insoluble fraction in the walls of these fungi appears amorphous in the electron microscope and is only weakly crystalline. It consists of one or more substances containing glucose, mannose, ribose and possibly other sugars together with traces of glucosamine. These substances presumably cover the cellulose microfibrils. The total quantity of non-cellulosic polysaccharide in the Saprolegniaceae approaches 85% of the total wall weight in contrast with the situation in Vaucheria where the cellulose alone approaches 90% of the total cell wall. Dichotomosiphon is unique among the organisms studied in this paper, in possessing a cell wall entirely soluble in alkali and composed of approximately equal quantities of glucose and xylose. The crystalline component is a $\beta $-1,3-linked xylan, as already reported for some of the Siphonales (closely related algae) by Frei & Preston.