Amylopectin biogenesis and characterization in the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii, the intracellular development of which is restricted in the HepG2 cell line

Autor: Denis Leleu, Alexandra Coppin, Yann Guérardel, Luc Liénard, Stanislas Tomavo, Christian Slomianny, Gérard Strecker, Steven G. Ball
Přispěvatelé: Unité de Glycobiologie Structurale et Fonctionnelle - UMR 8576 (UGSF), Université de Lille-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Rôle des canaux ioniques membranaires et du calcium intracellulaire dans la psysiopathologie de la prostate, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Unité de Glycobiologie Structurale et Fonctionnelle UMR 8576 (UGSF), Université de Lille-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de Lille-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2005
Předmět:
Zdroj: Microbes and Infection
Microbes and Infection, Elsevier, 2005, 7, pp.41-48
Microbes and Infection, 2005, 7, pp.41-48
ISSN: 1286-4579
Popis: The obligate intracellular protozoan Toxoplasma gondii belongs to the phylum Apicomplexa, which is composed of numerous parasites causing major diseases such as malaria, toxoplasmosis and coccidiosis. The life cycle of T. gondii involves developmental processes from one stage to another with both asexual and sexual parasitic forms. Throughout their life cycle, some apicomplexan parasites accumulate a crystalline storage polysaccharide analogous to amylopectin within the cytoplasm. In T. gondii, both the slowly dividing encysted bradyzoites and the sporozoites of the sexual stage contain a high number of amylopectin granules (AG), while the rapidly replicating tachyzoites are devoid of amylopectin. It is thought that this storage polysaccharide may represent an energy reserve that could fuel the transition from one developmental stage to another one. At present, by comparison to glycogen and plant starch, little is known about the biosynthesis, structure and biological functions of amylopectin in T. gondii. Here, we describe an in vitro system allowing the production and purification of a large amount of amylopectin, which has been subjected to detailed biochemical and structural analyses. Our data indicate that T. gondii synthesizes a genuine amylopectin following changes in the environmental conditions and that this storage polysaccharide differs from glycogen and starch in terms of glucan chain length.
Databáze: OpenAIRE