Expression of an unusual acidic glycoconjugate in Leishmania donovani

An acidic glycoconjugate containing mannose, galactose and phosphate in approximately equimolar amounts was extracted from Leishmania donovani promastigotes and partially characterized. The glycoconjugate could be metabolically labeled with either [3H]mannose or [3H]galactose and was extractable from a delipidated residue fraction with water/ethanol/diethyl ether/pyridine/concentrated NH4OH (15:15:5:1:0.017) at 25 degrees C. The radioactively labeled glycoconjugate was found to possess the following characteristics: 1) comprised 45-60% of the total [3H]mannose label incorporated into macromolecules; 2) was soluble in alkaline solvents and 0.5% Triton X-100; 3) migrated as a broad band upon electrophoresis on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels with an approximate molecular weight of 15,000-30,000; 4) bound to DE52 cellulose and was eluted with a salt gradient of 0-0.1 M NaCl; 5) was insensitive to Pronase, hyaluronidase, chondroitinase, endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase H, and endo-beta-galactosidase; and 6) possessed hydrophobic properties. An unusual feature of the glycoconjugate was its lability to mild acid hydrolysis (0.02 N HCl, 15 min, 60 degrees C). As determined by alkaline phosphatase and glycosidase digestion and paper chromatographic analysis, the major fragment generated by mild acid hydrolysis was found to be a phosphorylated galactosyl-beta-mannose disaccharide. All of these characteristics suggest that the glycoconjugate may be a polysaccharide and, possibly, may be important in parasite-host cell interactions.