LEISHMANIA ADLERI, A LIZARD PARASITE, EXPRESSES STRUCTURALLY SIMILAR GLYCOINOSITOLPHOSPHOLIPIDS TO MAMMALIAN LEISHMANIA

Glycoinositolphospholipids (GIPLs) were isolated from promastigotes of the lizard parasites Leishmania adleri by phenol/water extraction, Ph osphoinositol oligosaccharides were liberated by mild alkaline hydroly sis, purified by gel filtration and high pH anion exchange chromatogra phy, and characterized by methylation analysis, fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, The fo ur major compounds (I-IV) from L.adleri were linked to alkylacyl glyce rol, and their glycan moieties had the following structures: Man alpha (1-2)Man alpha(1-6)[ Man alpha(1-3)] Man alpha(1-4)GlcN alpha(1-6)Ins- 1-PO4 (I), Galp alpha(1-6) Galp alpha(1-3)Galf beta(1-3)Man alpha(1-3) Man alpha(1-4)GlcN alpha(1-6)Ins-1-PO4 (II), Galp alpha(1-3)Galf beta( 1-3)Man alpha(1-3)Man alpha(1-4)GlcN alpha(1-6)Ins-1-PO4 (III), Man al pha(1-2)[EtNP(-6)]Man alpha(1-6)[ Man alpha(1-3)] Man alpha(1-4)GlcN a lpha(1-6)Ins-1-PO4 (IV). These compounds are analogous to the previous ly characterized GIPLs from New and Old World leishmanial parasites of mammals designated iM4 (identical to compound I), GIPLs 3 and 2 (iden tical to compounds II and III, respectively), and EPiM4 (identical to compound IV), which is consistent with a close phylogenetic relationsh ip between lizard and mammalian Leishmania. However, in contrast to th e mammalian parasites, the abundant surface glycoconjugate known as li pophosphoglycan was either absent or confined to the flagellar pocket region in L.adleri.