Substrate specificity of thePenicillium lilacinum enzyme lytic to the cell wall ofRhodotorula glutinis and the structure of theRhodotorula cell wall glucomannan.

The lytic enzyme active on cell walls ofRhodotorula, which was produced byPenicillium lilacinum ATCC 36010, decomposed an extracellular mannan fromRhodotorula glutinis IFO 0695 and was confined to the β-1,3-mannoside bond on the reducing side of the β-1,4-linkedD-mannopyranose. Based on these results, the structure of the glucomannan, which was a major component ofRhodotorula cell walls, was proposed.