Characterization of a Pigmented Yeast and Its Slime

Bacterial polysaccharides have received considerable attention because of their striking physical properties, their immunological reactions and their heterogeneity of composition and structure. The wide variety of these polysaccharides has been reviewed by Evans and Hibbert (1946).

More recently, surveys have been made of the sugar constituents of the polysaccharide fractions from a variety of fungi (Martin and Adams, 1956; Hough and Perry, 1955; Bernier, 1957; and Clutterbuck et al., 1934).

Little information, however, is available on polysaccharide slimes liberated by yeasts, a property confined almost entirely to certain members of the Cryptococcaceae.

The nature of this problem is concerned primarily with an analysis of the slime produced by a strain of yeast. The organism itself adds to the scope of the investigation by virtue of its dark green intracellular pigment, a property which thus far lacks classification.