ABSTRACT
The ability of yeasts to assimilate and ferment a large variety of sugars was recognized very early. Nowadays, the different patterns so obtained constitute an essential part of the standard description of yeasts. The highly water-soluble acyclic polyols have been isolated from fungal material for nearly two centuries. Earlier compilations of all available data on the occurrence of free polyols in the Eumycetes has shown that the type of sugar alcohols produced by a given fungus is of taxonomic significance. Fungal cell wall polysaccharides include on the one hand, skeletal polymers, and on the other, amorphous or slightly crystalline matrix substances. Cell wall polymers can also be used as taxonomic characters at the genus level, as documented by numerous studies on filamentous fungi. Cleavage products of wall polymers, on the other hand, have been used extensively for taxonomic studies of yeasts, again, mainly on the genus level.
