Yeast flocculation: competition between nonspecific repulsion and specific bonding in cell adhesion.

Yeast flocculation is governed by the competition between electrostatic repulsion (nonspecific interaction) and polysaccharide-protein bonds (specific interaction). The electrical surface potential, which is mainly due to phosphodiester linkages (of the cell wall phosphomannan), maintains the cells dispersed. Polysaccharides and proteins of the cell surface can readily penetrate the potential barrier and may establish specific bonds. The specific inhibition of flocculation by various mannosyl derivatives suggested that the protein receptor binds to the group Man alpha----3 Man alpha----PO4- ----6 Man alpha----2 Man alpha... of phosphomannan. Calcium, which is required for flocculation, could act as a bridge between the negatively charged groups of phosphomannan and those of the protein receptor. The role of calcium, however, cannot be restricted only to charge neutralization because other divalent cations inhibit flocculation; our results show that cation binding is governed by strong stereochemical constraints. Studies on protein-polysaccharide interactions have shown that electrical charges may remain uncompensated at short distance, but can be stabilized by hydrogen bonds. Calcium could induce a "locked" conformation of the receptor; this conformation is the only one capable of binding phosphomannan strongly enough to make cell adhesion possible.