Production and modifications of extracellular structures during development of chytridiomycetes

In development of the primitive fungi, chytridiomycetes, unwalled zoospores bearing single, posterior flagella are transformed into walled, round-cells which elaborate the thallus. Production, structural modification, or release of extracellular material are involved with each transition of developmental stage. This article reviews the variety and developmental changes of extracellular materials found at the cell surface of chytridiomycetes. A cell coat, produced from Golgi-derived vesicles during zoosporogenesis, is visible around free swimming zoospores of some chytridiomycetes. How the zoospore surface receives and transduces signals is not widely explored, but it is known that fenestrated cisternae and simple cisternae, which are integrated into the microbody-lipid globule complex, are spatially and structurally associated with the plasma membrane and flagellar apparatus. This spatial association, as well as the cytochemical localization of calcium in fenestrated cisternae, suggest a mechanism for signal transduction and for regulation of zoospore motility. Zoospores become encased in a new layer of extracellular material as the zoospore encysts. Among some chytrids the source of this material is preexisting vesicles which fuse with the plasma membrane. Among other zoospores, a readily identifiable population of encystment vesicles is not apparent, demonstrating that there is no single pattern or mechanism for zoospore encystment in chytridiomycetes. Encysted zoospores developing into thalli, typically produce cell walls with a microfibrillar substructure. Ultrastructural analysis of walls reveals distinctive architecture and remarkable sculpturing which have been used in systematics of some members of chytridiomycetes. Nothing is known as to underlying controls of cytoskeletal elements and plasma membrane enzyme complexes in wall biogenesis. Many changes in cell surface structures accompany thallus maturation. Septa, many traversed with plasmodesmata, are produced in most chytrid thallus types. As sporangaia and resting spores prepare for the production and release of zoospores, additional extracellular layers of material are frequently produced. Polarized deposits of extracellular material become discharge plugs, discharge vesicles, or endoopercula. Interstitial material is also released into cleavage furrows. Circumscissile or localized digestion of walls produce operculate or inoperculate exit ports for zoospore release. Cryofixation preserves more extensive extracellular material than does conventional chemical fixation, and broader application of cryofixation may radically alter our current view of cell surface structure. Thus chytridiomycetes exhibit a range in patterns for the occurrence and subsequent modifications of extracellular materials, even for members within the same order. The most universally recognized role for these extracellular materials is protection. Although there is a reasonable view of the types of extracellular material involved in chytridiomycete development, we have only limited understandings of their biogenesis or roles in regulation and communication, areas awaiting more investigations.