The Relation between Bicarbonate, Glucosamine Synthetase and Chitin Synthesis in Blastocladiella

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Abstract
Differentiation of the thick, chitinous wall of a resistant sporangium in synchronous, single-generation cultures of the water fungus Blastocladiella emersonii is induced by exogenous bicarbonate at ca 8.9 x 10-3 [image]. An increase in the bicarbonate to super-optimal levels (e.g., 2.38 x 10-2 [image]) induces an abnormal thickening of the wall, a ca. 2-fold increase in the amount of chemically-detectable chitin per cell, and an increase in the specific activity of glutamine-fructose-6-phosphate transamidase, an enzyme presumably involved in the manufacture of chitin.