ABSTRACT
The fungal cell wall is a coherent structure made up of the physical and chemical association of a number of different substances that include polysaccharides, glycoproteins, lipids, and some other minor components that are linked together by covalent bonds, hydrogen bonds, hydrophobic interactions, or ionic associations. Each one of these types of substances plays speci…c roles, either passive or active. Structural polysaccharides constitute the scaffold of the wall. Amorphous polysaccharides bind the wall structure providing speci…city for the recognition of chemical components from other cells. Glycoproteins have enzymatic activities necessary for selective and controlled degradation of the wall components, for degradation of foreign compounds for nutrition and/or cell protection, and for establishing contact with the medium. Lipids provide hydrophobic characteristics and surface protection, and they may play a role in growth and signaling. Pigments protect the cell from damaging radiation and foreign enzymatic activities, and they also have an important role in protecting the cell from high turgor pressure, which occurs in the case of appressoria, the invading structures of a number of plant pathogenic species.
