Lipophosphoglycan is a prominent member of the phosphoglycan-containing sur
face glycoconjugates of Leishmania. Genetic tests enable confirmation of it
s role in parasite virulence and permit discrimination between the roles of
lipophosphoglycan and related glycoconjugates, When two different lipophos
phoglycan biosynthetic genes from Leishmania major were knocked out, there
was a clear loss of virulence in several steps of the infectious cycle but,
with Leishmania mexicana, no effect on virulence was found. This points to
an unexpected diversity in the reliance of Leishmania species on virulence
factors, a finding underscored by recent studies showing great diversity i
n the host response to Leishmania species.