Biogenesis of the Yeast Cell Wall

Yeast cells are covered by a rigid structure that protects the protoplast from osmotic changes and gives the characteristic shape to the cell. Studies on the composition of the wall of several species of yeast and other fungi have shown that they contain mainly polysaccharides with minor amounts of other materials. A completely rigid and continuous wall, nevertheless, would render growth impossible because cell extension would be restricted, so that an equilibrium must exist between softening (partial degradation) of wall and incorporation of new material into free ends of the polymers. From these considerations, it seems clear that the walls must be structurally and enzymatically a complex…