Abstract
Three representative strains of the genusHormodendrum, H. pedrosoiIFO 6071, H. compactumIFO 6726, andH. dermatitidisIFO 6421, were grown in Sabouraud's medium containing yeast extract to harvest the respective homogeneous cells of mycelial phase. The acetone-dried cells of each strain were extracted with 1/15 M phosphate, pH 7.0, at 135 C. Then crude polysaccharides were obtained by the ethanol precipitation.
The separation of the crude polysaccharides from the culture filtrates of these strains was made by the ethanol precipitation after successive processes of dialysis and concentration. Fractionation of the crude polysaccharides by gel filtration on a Sephadex G-75 column gave each galactomannan and glucan. The former polysaccharides were further fractionated into 1 major and 2 minor subfractions by DEAE-Sephadex chromatography.
All the major fractions were shown to be homogeneous by ultracentrifugal analysis. They had strong precipitating activities against homologous anti-whole cell rabbit sera.
In the agar-gel double diffusion reaction, 6 galactomannans isolated from each strain gave a single precipitin arc which fused completely with adjacent ones. In the precipitin reaction, these polysaccharides were also highly cross-reactive to heterologous anti-Hormodendrumsera. On the other hand, no serological activity could be observed on any of the glucan fractions purified by a procedure similar to that used for the purification of the galactomannans.
