Fission yeast possesses a family of (1,3)-alpha-glucan synthase-related genes; one of them, mok1/ags1, plays an essential function in morphogenesis during vegetative growth. In this work we show that three mok1 paralogs -mok12, mok13 and mok14 are required for sporulation to succeed, acting at different stages of the spore wall maturation process. Mutation of mok12 affected the efficiency of sp...

Glucans produced by the glucosyltransferase (GTF) of Streptococcus gordonii confer a hard, cohesive phenotype (Spp+) on colonies grown on sucrose agar plates. S. gordonii strains with specific mutations in the region of gtfG that encodes the GTF carboxyl terminus were characterized. In the parental strain Challis CH1, this region included a series of six direct repeats thought to function in gl...

Branched β-1,3-glucans and the eicosapolyenoic acids (EP) are among the best characterized oomycete elicitors that trigger innate immune responses in plants. These elicitors were identified over three decades ago, and they were useful in the study of the sequence of physiological, biochemical and molecular events that induce resistance in plants. However, in spite of the cross-kingdom parallels...

Isolation and chemical analyses of the cell walls of the yeast (Y form) and mycelial forms (M form) of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis and Blastomyces dermatitidis revealed that their chemical composition is similar and depends on the form. Lipids, chitin, glucans, and proteins are the main constituents of the cell walls of both forms of these fungi. There is no significant difference in the amou...

The impact of beta-glucan molecular weight (MW) on in vitro bile-acid binding and in vitro fermentation with human fecal flora was evaluated. beta-Glucan extracted from oat line 'N979-5-4' was treated with lichenase (1,3-1,4-beta-D-glucanase) to yield high (6.87x10(5) g/mol), medium (3.71x10(5) g/mol), and low (1.56x10(5) g/mol) MW fractions. The low MW beta-glucan bound more bile acid than did...

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) combines a drug or photosensitizer with a specific type of light to kill cancer cells. The cellular damage induced by PDT leads to activation of the DNA damage repair, which is an important factor for modulating tumor sensitivity to this treatment. β -Glucans are natural polysaccharides that bind complement receptor 3 on the effector cells, thereby activating them to ...

UNLABELLED Glucosyltransferase B is an enzyme produced by Streptococcus mutans, which catalyzes synthesis from sucrose of insoluble glucans that provide support to the biofilm. It is one of the main virulence factors in the generation of dental caries. However, its role is unclear in caries-free individuals who carry the bacteria. The aim of this study was to determine the production of glucosy...