Zoospore Chemotaxis in the Rumen Phycomycete Neocallimastix frontalis

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Abstract
N. frontalis zoospores showed chemotaxis to a range of carbohydrates, but none to the common amino acids, purines, pyrimidines or vitamins. The 4 chemoreceptors were: the glucose receptor, sensitive to D-glucose, D-galactose, D-xylose, L-sorbose, D-fucose and 2-deoxy-D-glucose; the sucrose receptor, sensitive to sucrose, D-fructose and raffinose; the mannose receptor, sensitive to D-mannose and D-glucose; and the sorbitol receptor, sensitive to D-sorbitol and D-mannitol. Growth of the vegetative stage of N. frontalis did not occur with D-xylose, L-sorbose, D-fucose, 2-deoxy-D-glucose, raffinose, D-mannose or D-sorbitol. The zoospores were attracted to carbohydrate mixtures representing the soluble carbohydrates found in different barley tissues; the highest response was with those mixtures representing carbohydrates of awn and inflorescence tissue. Chemotaxis also occurred preferentially to the awn and inflorescence tissue carbohydrate combinations rather than to carbohydrate combinations representing other tissues. Germination of the zoospores occurred in medium containing glucose in excess of 10-4 M.