Summary
Chitin microfibrils are a major component of the walls of stipe cells of the mushroomCoprinus cinereus. They occur as shallow helices, which may be right-or left-handed, with about two thirds being left-handed. The sense of the helicity is constant throughout one cell, but cells with both senses are found in the same stipe. This shallow helicity is the same in stipe cells before and after rapid elongation, i.e. the elongation process must involve insertion of new microfibrils between existing ones, with no angular rearrangements as are seen in some other elongating systems. Models are proposed for the ontogeny and elongation of the helical wall structure. Stipe cell walls of an elongationless mutant show the same helicity of microfibrils as strains with normal elongation, before and after fruit body maturation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beever RE (1980) A gene influencing spiral growth ofNeurospora crassa hyphae. Exp Mycol 4: 338–342
Cook TA (1914) The curves of life. Constable, London
Delmer DP (1987) Cellulose biosynthesis. Annu Rev Plant Physiol 38: 259–290
Frei E, Preston RD (1961) Cell wall organization and wall growth in the filamentous green algaeCladophora andChaetomorpha. Proc Roy Soc Lond [Biol] 155: 55–77
Frey-Wyssling A (1975) “Rechts” und “Links” im Pflanzenreich. Biol Zeit 5: 147–154
Galloway J (1987) A cause for reflection? Nature 330: 204–205
— (1989) Ciliate through the looking glass. Nature 340: 16–17
Gamow RT (1980) Phycomyces: mechanical analysis of the living cell wall. J Exp Bot 123: 947–956
Gertel E, Green PB (1977) Cell growth pattern and wall microfibrillar arrangement. Experiments withNitella. Plant Physiol 60: 247–254
Gooday GW (1974) Control of development of excised fruit bodies and stipes inCoprinus cinereus. Trans Br Mycol Soc 62: 391–399
— (1975) The control of differentiation in fruit bodies ofCoprinus cinereus. Rep Tottori Mycol Inst (Japan) 12: 151–160
— (1979) Chitin synthesis and differentiation inCoprinus cinereus. In: Burnett JH, Trinci APJ (eds) Fungal walls and hyphal growth. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 203–223
— (1982) Metabolic control of fruitbody morphogenesis inCoprinus cinereus. In: Wells K, Wells EK (eds) Basidium and basidiocarp, evolution, cytology, function and development. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York Tokyo, pp 157–173
— (1985) Elongation of the stipe ofCoprinus cinereus. In: Moore D, Casselton LA, Wood DA, Frankland JC (eds) Developmental biology of higher fungi. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 311–331
Gow NAR, Gooday GW (1983) Ultrastructure of chitin in hyphae ofCandida albicans and other dimorphic and mycelial fungi. Protoplasma 115: 52–58
Hunsley D, Burnett JH (1968) Dimensions of microfibrillar elements in fungal walls. Nature 218: 462–463
— — (1970) The ultrastructural architecture of the walls of some hyphal fungi. J Gen Microbiol 62: 203–218
Kamada T, Takemaru T (1977 a) Stipe elongation during basiodocarp maturation inCoprinus macrorhizus: mechanical properties of the stipe cell wall. Plant Cell Physiol 18: 831–840
Kamada T, Takemaru T (1977 b) Stipe elongation during basidiocarp maturation inCoprinus macrorhizus: changes in polysaccharide composition of stipe cell walls during elongation. Plant Cell Physiol 18: 1291–1300
— — (1983) Modifications of cell-wall polysaccharides during stipe elongation in the basidiomyceteCoprinus cinereus. J Gen Microbiol 129: 703–709
—, Fugii T, Takemaru T (1980) Stipe elongation during basidiocarp maturation inCoprinus macrorhizus: changes in lytic enzymes. Trans Mycol Soc Japan 21: 359–367
—, Hamada Y, Takemaru T (1982) Autolysis in vitro of the stipe cell wall inCoprinus macrorhizus. J Gen Microbiol 128: 1041–1046
—, Nakagawa T, Takemaru T (1985) Changes in (1→3)-β-glucanase activities during stipe elongation inCoprinus cinereus. Curr Microbiol 12: 257–260
Koch AL (1988) Biophysics of bacterial walls viewed as stress-bearing fabric. Microbiol Rev 52: 337–353
Madelin MF, Toomer DK, Ryan J (1978) Spiral growth of fungus colonies. J Gen Microbiol 106: 73–80
Mol PC, Wessels JGH (1990) Differences in wall structure between substrate hyphae and hyphae of fruit bodies inAgaricus bisporus. Mycol Res 94: 472–479
—, Vermeulen CA, Wessels JGH (1990) Diffuse extension of hyphae in stipes ofAgaricus bisporus may be based on a unique wall structure. Mycol Res 94: 480–488
Neville AC (1988) The need for a constraining layer in the formation of monodomain helicoids in a wide range of biological structures. Tissue Cell 20: 133–143
Quader H, Herth W, Ryser U, Schnepf E (1987) Cytoskeletal elements in cotton seed hair development in vitro: their possible regulatory role in cell wall organization. Protoplasma 137: 56–62
Roelofsen PA (1950) Cell-wall structure in the growth zone ofPhycomyces sporangiophores. Biochim Biophys Acta 6: 340–356
Trinci APJ, Saunders PT, Gosrami R, Campbell KAS (1979) Spiral growth of mycelial and reproductive hyphae. Trans Br Mycol Soc 73: 283–293
Wardrop AB, Wolters-Arts M, Sassen MMA (1979) Changes in microfibril orientation in walls of elongating plant cells. Acta Bot Neel 28: 313–333
Wessels JGH, Mol PC, Sietsma JH, Vermeulen CA (1990) Wall structure, wall growth and fungal cell morphogenesis. In: Kuhn PJ, Trinci APJ, Jung MJ, Goosey MW, Copping LG (eds) Biochemistry of cell walls and membranes in fungi. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York Tokyo, pp 81–95
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kamada, T., Takemaru, T., Prosser, J.I. et al. Right and left handed helicity of chitin microfibrils in stipe cells inCoprinus cinereus . Protoplasma 165, 64–70 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01322277
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01322277