Isolation of furanoterpene-containing particles from Ceratocystis fimbriata-infected sweet potato root tissue.

Furanoterpene-containing particles were isolated by centrifugation on a discontinuous Ficoll density gradient from a homogenate of the non-infected tissue adjacent to the infected region of Ceratocystis fimbriata-infected sweet potato root tissue. The particles were recovered at a relatively high ratio in the 2% Ficoll fraction, in which there was no contamination by mitochondria and only little by endoplasmic reticulum judging from the distribution of the activities of their marker enzymes and electron micrographs. Each particle was enveloped in a single membrane, 7-10 nm thick.