Glucosaminoglycans in the alkali-insoluble wall fraction of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae could be partly degraded by treatment with nitrous acid, indicating the presence of non-acetylated glucosamine residues, and almost completely degraded by treatment with chitinase. The latter treatment, solubilising 95% of the glucosaminoglycan, converted 92% of the alkali-insoluble glucan in the complex into an alkali-soluble form. It is suggested that the small amount of alkali-insoluble glucosaminoglycan in the yeast cell wall (less than 2% of the dry weight) is covalently linked to the β-glucan (about 28% of the dry weight), keeping the latter in an alkali-insoluble form.
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Mol et al. (1987) studied this question.