New Crystallite Orientations of Cellulose I in Spirogyra Cell-walls

Abstract

DURING our work on barium sulphate in Spirogyra ¹, clean cell-wall material was prepared, using methods applied earlier in isolations of cell-walls of fungi². This induced us to pay some attention to certain problems concerning Spirogyra cell-walls. In the native state, these do not stain with chlor-zinc iodide, although Frey³ definitely claims the presence of cellulose. Nicolai and Preston, discussing their X-ray examination of a great number of filamentous green algae⁴, conclude that in very few families can it be claimed with certainty that the wall contains any cellulose common to higher plants, and that it is striking that such a well-known and often investigated genus as Spirogyra is still in doubt.