Sp. Franzot et Tl. Doering, Inositol acylation of glycosylphosphatidylinositols in the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans and the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, BIOCHEM J, 340, 1999, pp. 25-32
Cryptococcus neoformans, an opportunistic fungus responsible for life-threa
tening infection in immunocompromised patients, is able to synthesize glyco
sylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) structures. Radiolabelling experiments in vit
ro with the use of a cryptococcal cell-free system showed that the pathway
begins as in other eukaryotes, with the addition of N-acetylglucosamine to
phosphatidylinositol, followed by deacetylation of the sugar residue. The t
hird step, acylation of the inositol ring, seemed to involve a fatty acid o
ther than palmitate, in contrast with previous findings in Saccharomyces ce
revisiae and mammalian GPI pathways. A systematic study of inositol acylati
on in C. neoformans and S. cerevisiae showed that both organisms used a var
iety of fatty acids in this step; these were transferred directly from acyl
-CoA to inositol without modification. However, the specificity of fatty ac
id utilization was quite distinct in the two fungi, with the pathogen being
substantially more restrictive. In mammalian cells fatty acids added exoge
nously as acyl-CoAs are not transferred directly to inositol. These results
suggest significant differences in the GPI biosynthetic pathway between ma
mmalian and C. neoformans cells that could represent targets for anti-crypt
ococcal therapy.