Method for Fingerprinting Yeast Cell Wall Mannans

Controlled acetolysis of yeast mannans yields mixtures of oligosaccharides with (1-->2) and (1-->3) linkages between the mannose units, whereas the less stable (1-->6) linkages of the polysaccharide backbone are cleaved. The "fingerprints," obtained by gel filtration of the oligosaccharide mixtures, can be used to distinguish between the different yeast mannans. The general method may be useful for determining the taxonomy of yeasts and for making correlations between immunochemical reactivity and mannan structure.