Specific Polysaccharides From Fungi

Abstract

From each of five yeast-like fungi and a trichophyton there has been prepared a fraction which appears to be essentially a polysaccharide. Tested by direct precipitation against the corresponding antisera the polysaccharides from the yeast-like fungi exhibit only partial specificity. Cross-precipitin reactions are frequent. By absorption of precipitin on the intact mycotic bodies, however, a relatively high degree of specific precipitability can be demonstrated for the polysaccharides.

A Practical Classification of the Monilias

“…The lack of correlation between the morphology and the biologic reactions of these fungi has led several investigators to study the possibility of using a serologic method for differentiation. Immune rabbit sera have been prepared and tested for agglutinins (Benham, 1931, Almon and Stovall, 1934, Hines, 1924 for precipitins (Stone and Garrod, 1931, Kesten et al, 1930, Lamb and Lamb, 1935) and for complement-fixing antibodies (Stone and Garrod, 1931). A study of the results obtained by these authors indicates that antibodies can be obtained in good titer and are of value in confirming an identification established by other methods.…”

A history of research on yeasts 12: medical yeasts part 1, Candida albicans

“…In 1937, Donald Martin 30 and his colleagues at Duke University School of Medicine made a very careful study of 153 meticulously purified strains, mostly from clinical sources, and considered the mode of growth on Sabouraud's agar, blood agar, cornmeal agar and also fermentation reactions171. Further, these authors used serological techniques for differentiating between strains, 31 such methods having already been developed for Candida albicans and similar yeasts earlier in the 1930s3, 25, 114, 131, 132, 142, 257. In accord with an informal decision at the Third International Congress of Microbiology in 1939, Martin170 adopted Christine Berkhout's use of the genus Candida for nine species, hitherto included in the genus Monilia 31.…”

Studies on the polysaccharides of capsulated yeasts

“…Haworth, Hirst & Isherwood (1937) described the structure of a second yeast polysaccharide built up from units of mannose. Preliminary data on the carbohydrates of yeast species other than Saccharomyces were published by Kesten, Cook, Mott & Jobling (1930), and Tomesik (1930) reported on the serological properties of 'gums' derived from a number of yeast species.…”