Studies on the cell wall of Chlorella I. Quantitative changes in cell wall polysaccharides during the cell cycle of Chlorella ellipsoidea

1. 1. The cell wall of Chlorella ellipsoidea was fractionated intotwo components, alkali-soluble hemicellulose and alkali-insoluble"rigid wall". The former was composed of several neutral sugars,i.e. rhamnose, xylose, arabinose, mannose and galactose, andthe latter had glucosamine as a main constituent sugar.
2. 2.Quantitative changes in both hemicellulose and "rigid wall"contents during the cell cycle were followed using synchronouslygrown cells. The two cell wall components showed markedly differentchanges. Hemicellulose increased in proportion to the enlargementof the cell surface area in the growing phase, while the "rigidwall" remained almost constant in this phase. The "rigid wall"increased only in the reproduction phase—the time of autosporeformation.

(Received September 26, 1977; )