Taxonomic group: fungi / Basidiomycota
(Phylum: Basidiomycota)
Associated disease: infection due to Cryptococcus neoformans [ICD11:
XN3EH 
]
Publication DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-42215-8_29Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Editors: Oliveira JM, Radhouani H, Reis RL
Correspondence: M.P. Wear <mwear1
jhu.edu>
Institutions: Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
Cryptococcus neoformans was first isolated as a human pathogen in the 1890s. Subsequent study has shown that the polysaccharide capsule of C. neoformans is a key virulence factor. Unlike in bacteria, the pathways for fungal polysaccharide synthesis are not well characterized with only a single glycosytransferase – β-(1,2)-xylosyltranferase Cxt1 – having been confirmed. While there is evidence that polysaccharide synthesis occurs in the cytosol and is transported to the extracellular space in extracellular vesicles, how the capsule attaches to the cell and why some polymers are secreted instead of incorporated into the capsular architecture remains a mystery. In this chapter we explore this along with our current biophysical, structural, and immunological understanding of cryptococcal polysaccharides. From these studies we outline the outstanding questions in the field and identify a bevy of techniques and applications open for future research.
structure, virulence factor, Cryptococcus, glucuronoxylomannan (GXM), fungal polysaccharide
Structure type: structural motif or average structure
Location inside paper: p. 485, Fig. 1B, hexasaccharide 1
Trivial name: glucuronoxylomannan (GXM)
Compound class: CPS
Contained glycoepitopes: IEDB_114701,IEDB_115136,IEDB_115576,IEDB_130701,IEDB_140116,IEDB_140630,IEDB_144983,IEDB_145668,IEDB_152206,IEDB_164174,IEDB_167188,IEDB_174332,IEDB_423153,IEDB_76933,IEDB_983930,SB_197,SB_44,SB_67,SB_72
Comments, role: review; the major polysaccharide GXM
NCBI Taxonomy refs (TaxIDs): 5207
Show glycosyltransferases
There is only one chemically distinct structure:
Found 
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