Molecular sieving by Neurospora cell walls during secretion of invertase isozymes

Abstract

Trevithick, John R. (University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison), and Robert L. Metzenberg. Molecular sieving by Neurospora cell walls during secretion of invertase isozymes. J. Bacteriol. 92: 1010-1015. 1966.-The secretion of invertase by young mycelia of Neurospora was studied. The process of secretion was found to be dependent upon growth. The results indicate that fractionation of light invertase, the monomer, from heavy invertase, the aggregated form, occurs at the cell wall. Neurospora strains wild type, crisp, osmotic, and the double mutant crisp osmotic were tested. An inverse relation exists between the fraction of the total invertase activity of the culture which the mold secretes into the medium and the degree of fractionation, defined as the ratio of the fraction of the invertase secreted into the medium that is light invertase to the fraction of the invertase remaining associated with the cells that is light invertase. The hypothesis is offered that the increased secretion of invertase and decreased degree of fractionation seen in osmotic mutants, and to a lesser extent in the other mutants, can be explained by an increased porosity of the cell wall.