THE GENE B PROTEIN LOCALIZES TO THE SURFACE OF LEISHMANIA-MAJOR PARASITES IN THE ABSENCE OF METACYCLIC STAGE LIPOPHOSPHOGLYCAN

Citation
D. Rangarajan et al., THE GENE B PROTEIN LOCALIZES TO THE SURFACE OF LEISHMANIA-MAJOR PARASITES IN THE ABSENCE OF METACYCLIC STAGE LIPOPHOSPHOGLYCAN, Journal of Cell Science, 108, 1995, pp. 3359-3366
Citations number
33
Categorie Soggetti
Cell Biology
Journal title
ISSN journal
00219533
Volume
108
Year of publication
1995
Part
11
Pages
3359 - 3366
Database
ISI
SICI code
0021-9533(1995)108:<3359:TGBPLT>2.0.ZU;2-W
Abstract
The stage specific Gene B protein (GBP) of Leishmania major localises to the surface of infective metacyclic parasites, where it associates with the developmentally regulated surface glycoconjugate, lipophospho glycan (LPG). This association has been proposed to aid maintenance of GBP on the parasite surface. In this paper, we show that the abundanc e of GBP on the extracellular metacyclic cell surface is in the order of 100,000 copies per cell. This level of expression is comparable to that seen in the intracellular amastigote stage, in which GBP is also localised to the surface, despite the lack of metacyclic stage specifi c LPG. Furthermore GBP expressed from an episome in avirulent parasite s, which are unable to synthesise metacyclic LPG or endogenous GBP, al so localises to the parasite surface. These data demonstrate that GBP can maintain a surface localisation in the absence of metacyclic LPG, suggesting that it is able to associate with other glycoconjugates on the surface of infective parasites.