An Electron Microscopical Study of the Histochemical Localization of Alkaline Phosphatase in the Cell Wall of Chlorella vulgaris

Abstract

IN algae it is considered that the oxidative assimilation of hexose follows the same glycolytic pathway as in higher organisms, and that these substances after dephosphorylation yield hexose phosphate, which may be used in polysaccharide synthesis, or enter the metabolic pool¹. Enzymes that may take part in these processes have been shown by biochemical methods to be present on the cell surfaces of small organisms, such as yeast². However, the limitations in resolution of the light microscope have made it difficult to demonstrate such enzymes histochemically, especially as regards their exact localization relative to the cell wall.