Molecular phenotyping of mannosyltransferases-deficient Candida albicans cells by high-resolution magic angle spinning NMR

J Biochem. 2009 Apr;145(4):413-9. doi: 10.1093/jb/mvp008. Epub 2009 Jan 17.

Abstract

The yeast Candida albicans is an opportunistic pathogen that causes infections in immunocompromised individuals with a high morbidity and mortality levels. Recognition of yeasts by host cells is directly mediated by cell wall components of the yeast, including a wide range of abundantly expressed glycoconjugates. Of particular interest in C. albicans are the beta-mannosylated epitopes that show a complex expression pattern on N-glycan moiety of phosphopeptidomannans and are absent in the non-pathogenic species Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Being known as potent antigens for the adaptive immune response and elicitors of specific infection-protective antibodies, the exact delineation of beta-mannosides regulation and expression pathways has lately become a major milestone toward the comprehension of host-pathogen interplay. Using the newly developed HR-MAS NMR methodology, we demonstrate the possibility of assessing the general profiles of cell-surface-exposed glycoconjugates from intact living yeast cells without any prior purification step. This technique permitted to directly observe structural modifications of surface expressed phosphodiester-linked beta-mannosides on a series of deletion strains in beta-mannosyltransferases and phospho-mannosyltransferases compared with their parental strains.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Candida albicans / cytology*
  • Candida albicans / enzymology*
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Mannans / chemistry
  • Mannans / isolation & purification
  • Mannosyltransferases / deficiency*
  • Models, Molecular*
  • Phenotype
  • Phosphopeptides / chemistry
  • Phosphopeptides / isolation & purification
  • Polysaccharides / chemistry
  • Solubility

Substances

  • Mannans
  • Phosphopeptides
  • Polysaccharides
  • phosphopeptidomannan
  • Mannosyltransferases