Abstract
A wild yeast, Candida utilis ATCC 42402, was found to secrete a glucomannan together with invertase on the consumption of sugar from the medium. The glucomannan in the culture filtrate was readily separated from the invertase by DEAE-cellulose chromatography. The crude glucomannan thus obtained was fractionated on a column of DEAE-Sephadex A-25 into several types of molecular species. The fractions were characterized by their sugar and amino acid composition which showed a tendency for an increasing mannose/glucose ratio, (1.66 - 5.74) coincident with greater amounts of the proteinous moiety (0.6 - 6 %). One fraction from the DEAE-Sephadex A-25 separation, which was distinct from the other fractions in its lack of glucosamine as a component, showed a high homogeneity (M.W., 7.4 × 104 SW, 20 = 6.11 S).
