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The structures of polysaccharides and glycolipids of Aspergillus fumigatus grown in the presence of human serum

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Abstract

A study was made of polysaccharides and glycosphingolipids isolated from Aspergillus fumigatus grown in media supplemented with human serum from healthy donors. Fractionation of Cetavlon-precipitated polysaccharides on Sephacryl S-400 gave rise to an excluded fraction (Fraction I) with molecular weight of >400 kDa and an included peak (Fraction II) with an average molecular weight of 30–80 kDa. Fraction I comprises about 5% of total polysaccharide and was identified as a glycogen-like molecule. Its structure was deduced from methylation data, treatment with amyloglucosidase, a red-brown coloration produced with an iodine solution and by 1H and 13C-NMR spectroscopy. It was previously suggested that higher amounts of glycogen-like polysaccharide (20%) were present in A. fumigatus grown in serum-free medium. Fraction II was identified as a galactomannan and was the main polysaccharide of A. fumigatus grown in serum-supplemented medium. Its structure was elucidated mainly by 13C-NMR spectroscopy combined with partial acetolysis and methylation analysis. The 13C-NMR spectrum of the galactomannan showed a much greater complexity in the β-d-galf and α-d-manp C-1 regions, than was evident for galactomannan from serum-free cultures previously described, reflecting differences in the glycosylation pattern, stimulated in serum-supplemented medium.

No differences in A. fumigatus glycosphingolipid could be detected between serum-containing and serum-free growth conditions.

Our results demonstrate that the change in polysaccharide structure is a more specific response to the altered growth conditions and not merely a symptom of more general changes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Microbiologia Geral, Instituto de Microbiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Maria Cleide F. da Silva Bahia & Eliana Barreto Bergter

  2. Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Ricardo P. Vieira

  3. National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, Blanche Lane, South Mimms, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, ENG 3QG, UK

    Barbara Mulloy

  4. Institut für Physiologische Chemie der Universität Bonn, Germany

    Rudolf Hartmann

Authors
  1. Maria Cleide F. da Silva Bahia
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  2. Ricardo P. Vieira
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  3. Barbara Mulloy
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  4. Rudolf Hartmann
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  5. Eliana Barreto Bergter
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da Silva Bahia, M.C.F., Vieira, R.P., Mulloy, B. et al. The structures of polysaccharides and glycolipids of Aspergillus fumigatus grown in the presence of human serum. Mycopathologia 137, 17–25 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006862420963

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