The chemical composition and structure of the yeast cell wall

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Abstract
A cell-wall fraction of yeast was isolated after disintegrating the whole cells in a Mickle cell disintegrator and '' subsequently centrifuging. The material isolated was free of whole cells and cell debris. A quantitative chemical analysis of the cells wall of yeast showed it to be composed of protein, lipid and at least 2 polysaccharides, a mannan and a glucan. The glycogen associated with the cell wall prepn. obtained by treatment of the whole cells with NaOH soln. does not function as a structural element and is not present in the fraction obtained by mechanical breakage. The mannan is associated with a protein present in the cell wall. The cell wall was examined by the optical and electron microscopes and was shown to consist of at least 2 membranes, one made up in part of the glucan component. The existence of bud scars on the cell wall was confirmed and some details of their structure observed.
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