Taxonomic group: fungi / Basidiomycota
(Phylum: Basidiomycota)
Associated disease: infection due to Cryptococcus neoformans [ICD11:
XN3EH 
]
NCBI PubMed ID: 20070311Publication DOI: 10.1111/j.1462-5822.2010.01430.xPublisher: New York: J. Wiley & Sons Ltd
Editors: Soldati T, Gow N, Grinstein S, Hartland E, Locker JK, Scherf A, Shao F
Correspondence: nosanchu
aecom.yu.edu
Institutions: Departments of Medicine (Division of Infectious Diseases) and Microbiology and Immunology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, NY, USA
The polysaccharide capsule of the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans is its main virulence factor. In this study, we determined the effects of mannitol and glucose on the capsule and exopolysaccharide production. Growth in mannitol significantly increased capsular volume compared with cultivation in glucose. However, cells grown in glucose concentrations higher than 62.5 mM produced more exopolysaccharide than cells grown in mannitol. The fibre lengths and glycosyl composition of capsular polysaccharide from yeast grown in mannitol was structurally different from that of yeast grown in glucose. Furthermore, mannitol treatment of mice infected intratracheally with C. neoformans resulted in fungal cells with significantly larger capsules and the mice had reduced fungal dissemination to the brain. Our results demonstrate the capacity of carbohydrate source and concentration to modify the expression of a major virulence factor of C. neoformans. These findings may impact the clinical management of cryptococcosis.
capsular polysaccharide, mannitol, Cryptococcus neoformans, cryptococcosis
Structure type: homopolymer
Location inside paper: p.740
Trivial name: galactan
Compound class: CPS, EPS, galactan, galactomannan
Contained glycoepitopes: IEDB_134624,IEDB_136906,IEDB_137472,IEDB_141794,IEDB_151528,IEDB_190606,SB_163,SB_7
Methods: GC-MS, ELISA, composition analysis, light scattering, statistical analysis, zeta potential measurement, fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis
Comments, role: backbone of galactoxylomannan (GalXM)
Related record ID(s): 41714, 41933
NCBI Taxonomy refs (TaxIDs): 235443Reference(s) to other database(s): GTC:G83948UI, CCSD:
50057, CBank-STR:4988
Show glycosyltransferases
There is only one chemically distinct structure:
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(previously named: Cryptococcus neoformans A H99; later renamed to: Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii H99)