Microbodies were observed in the hyphal tips of all 14 fungi investigated. Their morphology varied among the fungi and their numbers were influenced by the growth medium. Microbodies were closely associated with mitochondria in one fungus and with the endoplasmic reticulum in several fungi. Catalase was not detected in microbodies with the diaminobenzidine cytochemical procedure even though catalase activity was present in extracts of these fungi. The activities of the glyoxylate-cycle enzymes isocitrate lyase and malate synthase were affected by the growth medium and were particulate in the two fungi studied by differential centrifugation. Microbodies are abundant, and they are ubiquitous among the fungi and in some cases they may contain glyoxylate-cycle enzymes.
A lysosomal system was demonstrated in hyphal tip cells of Sclerotium rolfsii by light and electron microscopy observations of the sites of acid phosphatase activity visualized by a modified Gomori lead nitrate method. The cytochemical reaction product was found to be present in numerous vacuoles, each aout 0.5 ,um in diameter, which were seen as chains of spheres when viewed with the light microscope. They usually did not occur in the first 30 to 40 ,um of the hyphal tip cell, but were concentrated in a zone extending from 30 to 200 ,tm from the hyphal apex. As shown by the electron microscope, the vacuoles were sometimes interconnected by narrow channels. Acid phosphatase reaction product was also occasionally localized in vacuoles of the older hyphal cells, but never in apical vesicles, lipid bodies, or microbodies. It is proposed that this vacuolar system may originate from the endoplasmic reticulum.
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