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An assay of relative cell wall porosity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Kluyveromyces lactis and Schizosaccharomyces pombe
Author(s) -
De Nobel Johannes G.,
Klis Frans M.,
Munnik Teun,
Priem Jan,
Van Den Ende Herman
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
yeast
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.923
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1097-0061
pISSN - 0749-503X
DOI - 10.1002/yea.320060605
Subject(s) - kluyveromyces lactis , schizosaccharomyces pombe , cell wall , kluyveromyces , turgor pressure , saccharomyces cerevisiae , schizosaccharomyces , biology , yeast , porosity , cell , biophysics , chromatography , biochemistry , materials science , chemistry , composite material
We have developed a new assay to determine relative cell wall porosity in yeasts, which is based on polycation‐induced leakage of UV‐absorbing compounds. Polycations with a small hydrodynamic radius as measured by gel filtration (poly‐ L ‐lysine) caused cell leakage independent of cell wall porosity whereas polycations with a large hydrodynamic radius (DEAE‐dextrans) caused only limited cell leakage due to limited passage through the cell wall. This allowed the ratio between DEAE‐dextran‐ and poly‐ L ‐lysine‐induced cell leakage to be used as a measure of cell wall porosity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Kluyveromyces lactis and Schizosaccharomyces pombe . Using this assay, we found that the composition of the growth medium affected cell wall porosity in S. cerevisiae . In addition, we could show that cell wall porosity is limited by the number of disulphide bridges in the wall and is dependent on cell turgor. It is argued that earlier methods to estimate cell wall porosity in S. cerevisiae resulted in large underestimations.