| Abstract | Extracellular polysaccharides are produced by a number of yeast species. Phosphomannans are produced by certain Hansenula and Pichia species, mannans by Saccharomyces, Rhodotorula and Sporobolomyces species, and amylose and a heteropolymer by Cryptococcus spp. Recently phosphogalactan has been reported as a product of some Sporobolomyces sp. The mannan produced by various Rhodotorula and Sporobolomyces spp. is an alternately β-1, 3, β-1, 4-linked polymer which differs greatly from the mannans formed by Saccharomyces rouxii or S. cerevisiae, and which has no counterpart in the closely related Cryptococcus spp. Except in the case of Saccharomyces rouxii, there seems to be little relationship between the extracellular polysaccharides of yeast and the structural polysaccharides of the cell wall. However, the composition of the extracellular polysaccharides may prove of some value as a taxonomic aid. |
|---|
