Leishmania adleri, a lizard parasite, expresses structurally similar glycoinositolphospholipids to mammalian Leishmania

• Published in: Glycobiology (Oxford) 1997-07, Vol.7 (5), p.687-695
• Main Authors: Previato, J.O., Jones, C., Wait, R., Routier, F., Saraiva, E., MendonÇa-Previato, L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Carbohydrate Conformation; Carbohydrate Sequence; Chromatography, Gel; Chromatography, Ion Exchange; fast atom bombardment-mass spectrometry; Glucans - chemistry; Glucans - isolation & purification; glycoliped; Glycosylphosphatidylinositols - biosynthesis; Glycosylphosphatidylinositols - chemistry; Glycosylphosphatidylinositols - isolation & purification; Leishmania - chemistry; Leishmania - classification; Leishmania - metabolism; Leishmania adleri; Lizards - parasitology; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Mammals; Methylation; Molecular Sequence Data; nuclear magnetic resonance spectorscopy; oligosaccharide structure; Phylogeny; Spectrometry, Mass, Fast Atom Bombardment
• ISSN: 0959-6658; 1460-2423
• DOI: 10.1093/glycob/7.5.687

Glycoinositolphospholipids (GIPLs) were isolated from promastigotes of the lizard parasites Leishmania adleri by phenol/water extraction. Phosphoinositol oligosaccharides were liberated by mild alkaline hydrolysis, purified by gel filtration and high pH anion exchange chromatography, and characterized by methylation analysis, fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The four major compounds (I–IV) from L.adleri were linked to alkylacyl glycerol, and their glycan moieties had the following structures: Manα(1–2)Manα(1–6)[ Manα(1–3)] Manα(1–4)GlcNα(1–6)Ins-1-PO4 (I), Galpα(1–6) Galpα(1–3)Galf(1–3)Manα(1–3)Manα(1–4)GlcNα(l–6)Ins-1-PO4 (II), Galpα(1–3)Galfβ(l–3)Manα(1–3)Manα(1–4)GlcNα(1–6)Ins-1-PO4 (III), Manα(1–2)[EtNP(-6)]Manα(1–6)[ Manα(1–3)] Manα(1–4)GIcNa(1–6)Ins-1-PO4 (IV). These compounds are analogous to the previously characterized GIPLs from New and Old World leishmanial parasites of mammals designated iM4 (identical to compound I), GIPLs 3 and 2 (identical to compounds II and III, respectively), and EPiM4 (identical to compound IV), which is consistent with a close phylogenetic relationship between lizard and mammalian Leishmania, However, in contrast to the mammalian parasites, the abundant surface glycoconjugate known as lipophosphoglycan was either absent or confined to the flagellar pocket region in L.adleri.