Stipe elongation during basidiocarp maturation in Coprinus macrorhizus: Changes in polysaccharide composition of stipe cell wall during elongation

Changes in polysaccharide composition of stipe cell wall werefollowed during basidiocarp maturation in wild-type stock (#5026+5132)and the elongationless mutant (NG0398) of Coprinus macrorhizus,and then the correlation between contents of the respectivepolysaccharide components and mechanical properties of stipecell wall was examined. Polysaccharides of stipe cell wall werefractionated into five fractions, i.e., fraction I, II, IIIand IV polysaccharides and chitin. In the wild type, the content(% of cell wall) of fraction I decreased during an early phaseof maturation and then remained unchanged. Fraction III andIV contents increased once and then decreased. Fraction II andchitin contents remained almost constant during an early phaseof maturation and then increased as stipe elongation proceeded.On the basis of the correlation between the polysaccharide contentsand mechanical properties, it was suggested that the higherproportion of fraction III and/or fraction IV content(s) stimulatedstipe elongation, and that the higher proportion of fractionII and/or chitin content(s) resulted in lower rate of elongation.In the mutant, changes in the contents of the respective polysaccharideswere basically similar to those in the wild type. Thus, differencesin the rate of stipe elongation and mechanical properties betweenthe wild type and the mutant could not be simply explained interms of polysaccharide content. (Received June 27, 1977; )