Lack of chitin synthase genes impacts capsular architecture and cellular physiology in .

mutants lacking each of the eight putative chitin synthase genes () have been previously generated. However, it is still unclear how deletion of chitin synthase genes affects the cryptococcal capsule. Since the connections between chitin metabolism and capsular polysaccharides in are numerous, we analyzed the effects of deletion of genes on capsular and capsule-related structures of .

Phosphorus-rich structures and capsular architecture in Cryptococcus neoformans.

Aim: In this study, we aimed to analyze the relationship of phosphorus-rich structures with surface architecture in Cryptococcus neoformans.

Methods: Phosphorus-rich structures in C. neoformans were analyzed by combining fluorescence microscopy, biochemical extraction, scanning electron microscopy, electron probe x-ray microanalysis and 3D reconstruction of high pressure frozen and freeze substituted cells by focused ion beam-scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM).

A Paracoccidioides brasiliensis glycan shares serologic and functional properties with cryptococcal glucuronoxylomannan.

The cell wall of the yeast form of the dimorphic fungus Paracoccidioides brasiliensis is enriched with α1,3-glucans. In Cryptococcus neoformans, α1,3-glucans interact with glucuronoxylomannan (GXM), a heteropolysaccharide that is essential for fungal virulence. In this study, we investigated the occurrence of P.

Chitin-like molecules associate with Cryptococcus neoformans glucuronoxylomannan to form a glycan complex with previously unknown properties.

In prior studies, we demonstrated that glucuronoxylomannan (GXM), the major capsular polysaccharide of the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, interacts with chitin oligomers at the cell wall-capsule interface. The structural determinants regulating these carbohydrate-carbohydrate interactions, as well as the functions of these structures, have remained unknown. In this study, we demonstrate that glycan complexes composed of chitooligomers and GXM are formed during fungal growth and macrophage infection by C.