PHYSIOLOGICAL BASES OF MORPHOGENESIS IN FUNGI: 5. EFFECT OF SELENITE AND TELLURITE ON CELLULAR DIVISION OF YEASTLIKE FUNGI

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Concentrations of selenite and tellurite that are somewhat inhibitory to the growth of yeastlike fungi are shown to cause a variety of filament-producing organisms to grow exclusively in a yeast-phase condition. This effect is shown not to be a selective inhibition of the filamentous type of growth, but a promotion of cellular division. With subbacteriostatic concentrations of many antimicrobial agents it is well known that a filamentous type of microbial growth can be obtained owing to selective inhibition of cellular division, but this is believed to be the first instance in which antimicrobial agents have been shown to enhance division of normally filamentous cells. Analogies are drawn between the properties of sulphur-containing compounds and those with selenium or tellurium. Information is presented on the occurrence of a sulphur-rich protein in the cell wall of yeasts and on the occurrence of organically bound selenium in the cell wall of organisms grown on selenite.