Glucans. b1,3 glucan forms a ®brous network visible by scanning electron microscopy of the inner surface of walls and forms amorphous components as well (30). Its average degree of polymerization of 1,500 corresponds to a molecular mass of 240,000 and a maximum ®ber length of about 600 nm. This length is roughly three to six times the average wall thickness, or 1/10 of a cell circumference. Larger complexes have been oc-casionally reported (40, 55). Branching of the polymer (about 3% branch points) might substantially reduce this length, de-pending on the branch length (37, 40).