Abstract
Numerous microbodies developed at the logarithmic phase of growth in cells of Candida tropicalis, when cultures were grown in a medium containing normal alkanes. From the homogenate of protoplasts prepared from 16-hr cells of Candida, biologically active microbodies were isolated by discontinuous sucrose density gradient centrifugation. The fractions recovered in the middle and lower-density regions of the gradient were associated with substantially high activities of three peroxisomal marker enzymes, catalase, D-amino acid oxidase, and urate oxidase, while a mitochondrial marker enzyme, cytochrome oxidase, was only slightly detected. Electron microscopic studies revealed that these fractions were largely comprised of morphologically well-preserved microbodies with a smaller number of more or less degraded organelles, but were virtually devoid of mitochondria. The microbody fractions contained an appreciable amount of DNA.
