6-29 



THE YEAST CELL 



VOLUTIN (METAPHOSPHATE) 



Volutin is a cytological entity which is usually fixed with form- 

 aldehyde, and retains basic dyes after an acid rinse. Babes de- 

 scribed it as metachromatin in bacteria in 1889. Meyer named it 

 volutin in 1904 and described its staining qualities specifically. 

 Guilliermond (1902) proposed changing the name volutin back to 

 metachromatin. He called the intravacuolar bodies in yeast meta- 

 chromatic granules. I have identified them as chromosomes or 

 nucleoli coated with metaphosphate. He called the mitochondria 

 (cytoplasmic granules which lose their stains when treated with di- 

 lute acid) basophilic granules. 



Both Meyer and Guilliermond made extensive studies of the dis- 

 tribution of volutin in cells. Guilliermond (1910) concluded that volu- 

 tin is a reserve material like glycogen and fat which is widely dis- 

 tributed, especially in the vacuoles of fungi and bacteria. 



