Characterization of a proteinaceous extracellular coat synthesized by the ?slime? variant of Neurospora crassa

Cells of the “slime” strain of Neurospora crassa synthesize a coherent extracellular material which remains attached to the cell surface, but is released into the liquid medium by shaking. The material was purified and studied by different criteria. By electron microscopy it appears as long wavy sheets which strongly bind concanavalin A, but not wheat germ agglutinin, and maintain their integrity in the absence of structural polysaccharides. Analysis of the purified material revealed that it was free of contaminating membranes; it contained more than 70% protein, 1% neutral sugars (glucose, mannose, fucose and galactose), less than 2% lipids and ca. 4% not-characterized hexosaminelike compo…