Studies on the Structure of Yeast Mannan

[Structure of the cell wall polysaccharide in the food protein yeast Candida spec. H. IV. Structure of the alkali labile oligosaccharide in the mannan-protein-phosphate complex]

Mild alkaline degradation of the proteophosphomannan (PPM) under conditions that effect beta-elimination of the residues, O-glycosidically bound on serine and threonine, release mainly mannose, glucose, mannobioses and mannotrioses with the same structures as those obtained by acetolysis of the polysaccharide component of the PPM. Methylation analysis and paper chromatography demonstrated the structural heterogeneity of the tetra-, penta- and hexasaccharide fractions containing 1,2- and 1,6-linked and 1,2,6-branched manno-oligosaccharides. Methylation analysis and acetolysis, paper chromatography and analysis of the carbohydrate composition of the oligosaccharide fractions DP 7-12 and DP 15-19 demonstrated inner core region like structures containing 1,2- and 1,6-linked mannose, 1,2,6- and 1,3,6-branchpoints and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine.

Mannan-hydrolyzing enzymes of yeasts and yeast-like organism

The ability to degrade mannan in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, i.e. the ability to produce an enzyme of the alpha-mannosidase type was tested in 57 representatives of various genera and species of yeasts and yeast-like organisms. Their growth was simultaneously monitored on soluble mannan and on 4-nitrophenyl-alpha-D-mannopyradnoside. The majority of strains produced alpha-mannosidase (EC 3.2.1.24).

Structure of the D-mannan and D-arabino-D-galactan in Crithidia fasciculata: changes in proportion with age of culture

Cells of the insect flagellate Crithidia fasciculata contained mannan and arabinogalactan components, whose porportion varied with culture age, the former predominating during early stages, and the latter during the later stages of exponential growth and the deceleration phase. The mannan was a beta-D-(1 leads to 2)-linked D-mannopyranan. The arabinogalactan had a complex structure containing, in part, a beta-D-(1 leads to 3)-linked galactopyranose main-chain substituted in the 2 positions by single-unit D-arabinopyranose side-chains and with some unsubstituted units.

alpha-D-Mannosidase of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Characterization and modulation of activity

A unique and interesting alpha-D-mannosidase (alpha-D-mannoside mannohydrolase EC 3.2.1.24) activity has been isolated from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The enzyme was localized in a crude particulate fraction of the cell extract and was not solubilized by treatment with detergents or high ionic strength NaCl. The enzyme had a pH optimum of 6.3, Km 50 micron with p-nitrophenyl-alpha-D-mannopyranoside, and was competitively inhibited by D-mannose (Ki 20 mM). The enzyme is not affected by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, a number of different cations, or sulfhydryl reagents. It was inhibited by p-chloromercuriphenyl sulfonic acid and this inhibition is prevented by the addition of substrate. The cellular concentration of alpha-D-mannosidase is inversely proportional to growth rate, suggesting that the enzyme is under catabolite repression. The level of enzyme was found to increase approx. 8-fold during sporulation. This is apparently due to de novo synthesis, since inhibition of protein synthesis by cycloheximide prevents the increase in enzyme activity.

Purification of some glycoside hydrolases by affinity chromatography

Two glycoproteins have been isolated from the cell walls of baker's yeast. One is a glucan-protein complex which has been partially characterised as having a branched carbohydrate structure composed of chains of (1 leads to 3)-linked beta-D-glucosyl residues, some of which are attached by (1 leads to 6)-linkages to the main chain. Immobilization of this glycoprotein was achieved by covalent attachment to Sepharose, and the product was used to isolate a number of (1 leads to 3)-beta-D-glucan hydrolases from Helix pomatia, malted barley, and Basidiomycete QM806. The second glycoprotein, a mannan-protein complex, after immobilization, has been used in the purification of an alpha-D-mannosidase from jack-bean meal.

Lysis of intact yeast cells and isolated cell walls by an inducible enzyme system of Arthrobacter GJM-1

Bacterium Arthrobacter GJM-1 known in the literature as a good producer of alpha-mannanase was found to accumulate in the culture fluid lytic activities against viable yeast cells during growth on isolated cell walls or beta-glucan fractions of yeast. The accumulation of the lytic activities showed an inducible character. The lytic system produced in the medium containing baker's yeast cell walls was capable of complete solubiliaztion of cell wals in vitro. The system lysed viable cells of a number of yeast species and induced their conversion to protoplasts in an osmotically stabilized medium. The lytic system showed different pH and temperature optima when viable cells or isolated cell walls were used as substrates. The pH optimum of the lysis of isolated cell walls was identical with pH optimum of beta-glucanase activities in the crude system. The results pointed out that in the lysis of intact cells, in addition to beta-glucanases, some other factor is involved. Substantial differences in the nature of the outer and the inner surface of cell walls of Saccharomuces cerevisiae were confirmed in this paper based on the different susceptibility to lysis of the cell walls in vivo and in vitro.

Enzymes of the yeast lytic system produced by Arthrobacter GJM-1 bacterium and their role in the lysis of yeast cell walls

Yeast lytic system produced by Arthrobacter GJM-1 bacterium during growth on baker's yeast cell walls contains a complete set of enzymes which can hydrolyze all structural components of cell walls of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Chromatographic fractionation of the lytic system showed the presence of two types of endo-beta-1,3-glucanase. Rapid lysis of isolated cell walls of yeast was induced only by endo-beta-1,3-glucanase exhibiting high affinity to insoluble beta-1,3-glucans and releasing laminaripentaose as the main product of hydrolysis of beta-1,3-glucans. This enzyme was able to lyse intact cells of S. cerevisiae only in the presence of an additional factor present in the Arthrobacter GJM-1 lytic system, which was identified as an alkaline protease. This enzyme possesses the lowest molecular weight among other identified enzyme components present in the lytic system. Its role in the solubilization of yeast cell walls from the outer surface by endo-beta-1,3-glucanase could be substituted by preincubation of cells with Pronase or by allowing the glucanase to act on cells in the presence of thiol reagents. The mechanism of lysis of intact cells and isolated cell walls by the enzymes of Arthrobacter GJM-1 is discussed in the light of the present conception of yeast cell wall structure.

Cell antigens recognized by rabbit antibodies specific for oligomannosyl determinants

Rabbit antibodies to cell wall mannans of various microbial strains and their mutants were found to be cross-reactive to cell carbohydrates of mammalian sperm and 4-6-days-old blastocysts. Immunochemical studies indicate that oligomers of alpha1 yields to 2, alpha1 yields to 3, alpha1 yields to 6, and probably also alpha yields to 4 linked mannose residues of sperm carbohydrates are available for antibody binding. At least 80 percent of binding activity of a yeast mannan antibody to sperm can be effectively inhibited by specific haptens or digestion with exo-alpha-D-mannosidase, an enzyme activity highest in testicular tissue. In order to determine the role of this enzyme in the metabolism of the cross-reactive mannan antigens of sperm, the relative amount of a specific alpha-linked oligomannosyl determinant of bovine sperm from homozygous normals was compared to that of hetero-zygous carriers of alpha-mannosidase deficiency. Extensive cross-reactivity between the microbial and mammalian oligomannosyl determinants suggest that these are conserved structures in cell carbohydrates, although the organization of these units in the microbial cell wall lipopolysaccharide has very little similarity to the carbohydrate moieties of mammalian glycoproteins.

alpha-Mannosidase and mannanase of some wood-rotting fungi

Cultivation media from 11 wood-rotting fungi contained alpha-mannosidase and mannanase activity, alpha-Mannosidase was studied in more detail in Phellinus abietis and mannanase was studied more intimately in basidiomycetes Phellinus abietis, Trametes sanguinea and Pholiota aurivella. Suitable cultivation conditions and optimum conditions for the production of alpha-mannosidase and mannanase were determined. Both enzymes are constitutive; mannanase is extracellular, alpha-mannosidase was found in both mycelium and cultivation medium.

Biosynthesis of acid phosphatase of baker's yeast. Characterization of a protoplast-bound fraction containing precursors of the exo-enzyme

1. Yeast protoplasts, secreting acid phosphatase (orthophosphoric-monoester phosphohydrolase (acid optimum) EC 3.1.3.2) contain a small amount of firmly bound enzyme, even after lysis (Van Rijn, H.J.M., Boer, P. and Steyn-Parvé, E.P. (1972) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 268, 431-441). The major part (70%) of this protoplast-bound acid phosphatase can be solubilized by nonionic detergents, such as Triton X-100. 2. The kinetics of radioactive amino acid incorporation in the solubilized and in the secreted enzyme has been estimated by pulse-chase labelling of secreting protoplasts, followed by fractionation and counting radioactivity in the enzyme band in polyacrylamide gels after electrophoresis at pH 5.0. A precursor-product relationship between the Triton X-100-extractable fraction of the protoplast-bound acid phosphatase and the secreted enzyme is apparent. 3. The solubilized acid phosphatase is essentially indistinguishable from the secreted enzyme with regard to a number of enzymatic properties and its stability towards pH and temperature. Both enzymes also behave alike on polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis, producing a single acid phosphatase band with glycoprotein character and comparable mobility. 4. A striking difference is seen in isopycnic equilibrium sedimentation in CsCl: the secreted acid phosphatase is homogeneous, with a buoyant density of p equals 1.47 g/cm3, while the Triton X-100-extractable part of the protoplast-bound acid phosphatase is heterogeneous; besides heavier material a major component with buoyant density of p equals 1.37 g/cm3 is always visible.