Fungal fimbriae. I. Structure, origin, and synthesis

Fine hair-like appendages on the cell walls of the another smut Ustilago violacea are described. These hairs are termed fimbriae because of their close similarity to the fimbriae (pili) found on certain Gram-negative bacteria. Cells of U. violacea may carry more than 200 fimbriae varying in length from about 0.5 mum to over 10 mum, and having a diameter of about 60-70 A. Some fimbriae produce knobs similar to those found on bacterial sex fimbriae. Log-phase cells are the most densely fimbriated, while stationary phase cells are devoid of fimbriae. The cells can be defimbriated by sonication, high-speed agitation, or centrifugation through a 40% sucrose solution. The fimbriae can regenerate in these defimbriated cells in about 1 h. This regeneration is inhibited by both cycloheximide and rifampin, but not by chloramphenicol and therefore appears to depend on de novo protein synthesis on cytoplasmic ribosomes. Similar long fimbriae are found on U. maydis and Leucosporidium (Candida) scottii. Short fimbriae, about 0.5 mum long, were found on all the other species of yeast-like fungi examined (Rhodotorula, Saccharomyces, Schizosaccharomyces, Hansenula, Lipomyces, Nadsonia, and Torulopsis spp.).