A chemical and autoradiographic study of cellulose synthesis during the encystment of Acanthamoeba castellanii

When cells of Acanthamoeba castellanii are placed in a non-nutrient medium, they differentiate into cysts which possess cellulosic walls. In the present study, the source of the glucosyl unit for cyst wall cellulose was investigated by following the encystment of trophozoites grown in the presence of ¹⁴C-labeled fatty acids (uniformly labeled palmitate or oleate) or [3-³H]glucose. Cells were fractionated at the beginning and after 30 hr of encystment using a modified Schmidt-Tannhauser procedure. In cells grown on fatty acids, 90% of the labeled material was in the lipid fractions both before and after encystment with the total amount of label/cell changing very little. Both partial and complete acid hydrolysis of the glycogen of the acidsoluble fraction and the alkali-insoluble residue of the cyst wall indicated that the glucose of both fractions was not radioactive, although Acanthamoeba is known to have a functional glyoxylate pathway.Fractionation data of cells grown on [³H]glucose indicated a sevenfold increase in radioactivity in the wall insoluble fraction and a fivefold decrease in the acid-soluble fraction with the cpm/cell of the other fractions changing very little after 30 hr of encystment. Approximately 70% of the ³H-labeled material was recovered as glucose from the 30-hr wall insoluble fraction following complete acid hydrolysis. The specific radioactivity of glucose in the cyst wall insoluble fraction was the same as that of glycogen glucose isolated from the acid soluble fraction of trophozoites. Electron microscopic autoradiography showed that the majority of nonlipid radioactivity was due to glycogen in trophozoites. Autoradiograms failed to reveal Golgi bodies or any particular region of the cell as being the specialized site of cellulose synthesis. The results of the fractionation and autoradiographic studies are consistent with the concept that glycogen is a precursor of cyst wall cellulose, and that glucosyl units of glycogen and/or other glucose derivatives are converted to cellulose without significant dilution under the experimental conditions used.