Demonstration of acid phosphatase-containing vacuoles in hyphal tip cells of Sclerotium rolfsii.

A lysosomal system was demonstrated in hyphal tip cells of Sclerotium rolfsii by light and electron microscopy observations of the sites of acid phosphatase activity visualized by a modified Gomori lead nitrate method. The cytochemical reaction product was found to be present in numerous vacuoles, each aout 0.5 mum in diameter, which were seen as chains of spheres when viewed with the light microscope. They usually did not occur in the first 30 to 40 mum of the hyphal tip cell, but were concentrated in a zone extending from 30 to 200 mum from the hyphal apex. As shown by the electron microscope, the vacuoles were sometimes interconnected by narrow channels. Acid phosphatase reaction product was also occasionally localized in vacuoles of the older hyphal cells, but never in apical vesicles, lipid bodies, or microbodies. It is proposed that this vacuolar system may orginate from the endoplasmic reticulum.