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A chitin-like glycan in the cell wall of a Chlorella sp. (Chlorococcales, Chlorophyceae)

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Abstract

The stable amino-sugar fraction of the cell wall of the symbiotic Chlorella strain Pbi (Chlorophyceae) was isolated and investigated by sugar analysis, infra-red spectroscopy, lectin binding, enzymatic degradation, X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. The results indicate the existence of a glycosaminoglycan which can be regarded as a chitin-like glycan. This carbohydrate structure is unusual for algae and reported here for the first time in unicellular chlorophycean algae.

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Abbreviations

FITC:

fluorescein isothiocyanate

IR:

infra-red

NMR:

nuclear magnetic resonance

TFA:

trifluoroacetic acid

WGA:

wheat germ agglutinin

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Botanik, Universität Leipzig, Talstrasse 33, D-04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Edwin Kapaun & Werner Reisser

Authors
  1. Edwin Kapaun
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  2. Werner Reisser
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Additional information

We thank Peter Zugenmaier, Institut für Physikalische Chemie der Technischen Universität Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany, for valuable advice on X-ray diffraction techniques and for taking the Debye-Scherrer images. Wilfried Diekmann and David G. Robinson, Pflanzenphysiologisches Institut der Universität Göttingen, Germany, kindly carried out the freeze-etching. This work was supported by a fellowship from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung to the first author and a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft to the second author.

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Kapaun, E., Reisser, W. A chitin-like glycan in the cell wall of a Chlorella sp. (Chlorococcales, Chlorophyceae). Planta 197, 577–582 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00191563

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00191563

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