Raman Spectroscopy and Density Functional Theory Calculations of β-Glucans and Chitins in Fungal Cell Walls

摘要

Fungi play an environmentally important role in indoor air pollution and in building-related illnesses. The fungal wall is a heterogeneous structure consisting of lipids and carbohydrates such as chitin, 1,3-β-ghican and 1,6-β-glucan. As observed by spectroscopic analysis, the composition of the cell wall frequently varies in a noticeable way between species of fungi. (Figure 1) depicts diagrammatic representations of parts of fungal cell walls. It was expected that strong peaks from either glucans and chitins would appear in the vibrational spectra of fungal cell walls.