The variant-specific surface protein of Giardia, VSP4A1, is a glycosylated and palmitoylated protein

Abstract

The variant-specific surface proteins (VSPs) of the ancient protist Giardia duodenalis (syn: Giardia intestinalis, Giardia lamblia) are cysteine- and threonine-rich polypeptides that can vary considerably in sequence and size. In the present study, we have purified a VSP (VSP4A1, formerly called CRISP-90) from a cloned Giardia isolate, derived from a sheep, by Triton X-114 phase partitioning and anion-exchange chromatography. Analysis of the purified VSP4A1 showed that this protein is post-translationally modified with both glycans and lipid. The glycans of VSP4A1 were detected and partially characterized by (1) compositional analysis, which indicated the presence of GlcNAc and Glc (0.5 and ..