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Certain forms of oligocellulose and certainbacterially excreted peptides were identified asendogenous and exogenous elicitors, respectively, ofa tip bleaching response in Gracilaria conferta(Schousboe ex Montagne) J. et G. Feldmann. Thehalf-maximal tip bleaching response was observed when31.1 μM cellobiose or 11.6 μM cellotetraosewere present in the growth medium. In contrast, noresponse was detected after exposure to glucose,cellotriose, cellopentaose or maltooligosaccharides.The response was thus strongly dependent on themolecular size of the oligocellulose and onlysaccharides that consisted of an even number ofglucose residues were elicitor-active. Three bacterialspecies that had earlier been identified as potentialinducers of the tip bleaching symptom excretedelicitor-active compounds into the growth medium.These compounds were protease-sensitive and thuspeptides or proteins. The tip bleaching-inducingcompound that was excreted by one Cytophaga-likeorganism was partially purified. It could be extractedfrom culture supernatants with chloroform and itsmolecular size was between 700 and 1500 Da,corresponding with a structure of 4–20 amino acids.Various endogenous and exogenous elicitors are thusrecognized by G. conferta and allow this alga torespond hypersensitively to the maceration of its cellwall skeleton or just to the presence of certainepiphytic organisms.