Taxonomic group: fungi / Ascomycota
(Phylum: Ascomycota)
Host organism: Homo sapiens
Organ / tissue: cell wallAssociated disease: aspergillosis [ICD11:
1F20 
, ICD11:
XN0WC ];
infection due to Aspergillus fumigatus [ICD11:
XN5Z7 ]
NCBI PubMed ID: 33198419Publication DOI: 10.3390/jof6040283Journal NLM ID: 101671827Publisher: Basel, Switzerland: MDPI AG
Correspondence: Thierry Fontaine <tfontain
pasteur.fr>
Institutions: Unité de Biologie et Pathogénicité Fongiques, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology FORTH and School of Medicine, University of Crete Heraklion, Crete, Greece
The galactomannan (GM) that is produced by the human fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus is an emblematic biomarker in medical mycology. The GM is composed of two monosaccharides: mannose and galactofuranose. The furanic configuration of galactose residues, absent in mammals, is responsible for the antigenicity of the GM and has favoured the development of ELISA tests to diagnose aspergillosis in immunocompromised patients. The GM that is produced by A. fumigatus is a unique fungal polysaccharide containing a tetramannoside repeat unit and having three different forms: (i) membrane bound through a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchor, (ii) covalently linked to β-1,3-glucans in the cell wall, or (iii) released in the culture medium as a free polymer. Recent studies have revealed the crucial role of the GM during vegetative and polarized fungal growth. This review highlights these recent data on its biosynthetic pathway and its biological functions during the saprophytic and pathogenic life of this opportunistic human fungal pathogen.
cell wall, galactofuranose, glycosyltransferase, immune response, Galactomannan, Aspergillus fumigatus, polarized growth
Structure type: structural motif or average structure
Location inside paper: Fig. 1, A
Compound class: polysaccharide, galactomannan
Contained glycoepitopes: IEDB_130701,IEDB_136095,IEDB_136104,IEDB_137472,IEDB_140116,IEDB_141793,IEDB_141795,IEDB_141829,IEDB_141830,IEDB_141832,IEDB_141833,IEDB_143632,IEDB_144983,IEDB_147453,IEDB_149137,IEDB_149176,IEDB_152206,IEDB_153220,IEDB_164480,IEDB_190606,IEDB_76933,IEDB_885812,IEDB_983930,SB_136,SB_191,SB_196,SB_198,SB_44,SB_67,SB_72
Biological activity: polysaccharide immunomodulates the proinflammatory responses, mainly through the TLR4 signalling
Biosynthesis and genetic data: biochemical data
NCBI Taxonomy refs (TaxIDs): 746128
Show glycosyltransferases
There is only one chemically distinct structure:
Found 
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