The structure of Leishmania major amastigote lipophosphoglycan

Abstract

Intracellular amastigotes of Leishmania major produce 6 × 104 copies/cell of a lipophosphoglycan (LPG) that is structurally distinct from the LPG produced by the extracellular promastigote form of L. major, Leishmania donovani, and Leishmania mexicana (reviewed by McConville, M. J. (1991) Cell Biol. Int. Rep. 15, 779-798). L. major amastigote LPG is composed of a lysoalkyl phosphatidylinositol lipid anchor that links via a diphosphorylated hexasaccharide core to a phosphoglycan (6-100 kDa). The structures of the anchor, the core, and the phosphoglycan were determined by monosaccharide and linkage analysis, fast atom bombardment-mass spectrometry, one-dimensional 1H NMR spectroscopy, and exog..