Localization of Chitin synthase in Mucor rouxii by an autoradiographic method.

The localization of chitin synthase in the cells of Mucor rouxii was studied by a method which combined permeabilization of the cells with toluene/ethanol and incubation with the radioactive substrate UDP-[3H]GlcNAc followed by high resolution autoradiography. By this technique it was demonstrated that most of the chitin synthesized by these cells was located within the cytoplasm, and only a small amount of the enzyme product appeared at the cell surface. It was concluded that most of the chitin synthase of M. rouxii is located in the cytoplasm of the cells.