Production, reproduction, and reversion of protoplast-like structures in the osmotic strain of Neurospora crassa

Protoplasts devoid of cell walls have been produced in Bacillus megaterium and certain other Gram-positive species of bacteria.(1) Structures resembling protoplasts but not completely devoid of cell walls have also been produced in Escherichia coli and some other Gram-negative bacteria.(2) Those from Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria are alike in that they are spherical in shape and are lysed by osmotic shock. Bacterial protoplasts have already proved to have many useful applications among others, in the extraction of cellular constituents, in studies of the biosynthesis of enzymes and other macromolecular substances, and in host-parasite interrelations.(3)