This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Polacheck, I Articles by Rosenberger, R F Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Polacheck, I Articles by Rosenberger, R F

Distribution of autolysins in hyphae of Aspergillus nidulans: evidence for a lipid-mediated attachment to hyphal walls.

ABSTRACT

Preparations of broken Aspergillus nidulans hyphae contained both free and wall-bound autolysins. The bound enzymes were not solubilized by 8 M LiCl or neutral or anionic detergents; they were readily detached from walls by a cationic detergent or by autodigestion. Once detached, the enzymes did not reassociate with wall to give salt-resistant complexes. Six enzymes hydrolyzing wall polymers were bound to the envelope, and the same activities were also detected among soluble proteins in the cytoplasmic fraction. It is suggested that cytoplasmic vesicles, containing autolysins, are inserted into or trapped by newly formed wall in the growing hypha; these constitute the wall-bound autolysin fraction. Starvation for a carbon source derepressed the synthesis of five out of the six autolysins, and the amounts of both soluble and wall-bound activities increased by one to two orders of magnitude.