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Abstract
The intermediate stages of protoplast formation of Chlorella ellipsoidea were studied by transmission and scanning electron microscopy. Within the first few hours of treatment with a polysaccharide-degrading enzyme mixture, the microfibrillar inner component of the cell wall was almost completely digested and the remaining outermost component was released irregularly from the plasma membrane. As incubation proceeded, a crevice which occurred at a fold of the outer wavy layer gradually extended through the layer; then, the surface of the plasma membrane was exposed from the crevice. The gradually degrading outer layer peeled off and an almost spherical protoplast with fine furrows on its surface was released.
Degradation of the outermost thin layer of cell wall, probably composed of pectin, limits the rate of protoplast formation in C. ellipsoidea.
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