Lipophosphoglycan-like glycoconjugate of Tritrichomonas foetus and Trichomonas vaginalis

Lipophosphoglycan-like glycoconjugates were isolated, purified and partially characterized from Tritrichomonas foetus and Trichomonas vaginalis. Cell surface radiolabeling of both trichomonads by the galactose oxidase/NaB[3H]4 technique indicated that the glycoconjugate was located on the cell surface of the parasites. The glycoconjugates were extracted from the delipidated residue fraction with the solvent, water/ethanol/diethylether/pyridine/NH4OH (15:15:5:1:0.017) and were purified to homogeneity by Sepharose CL-4B followed by octyl-Sepharose chromatography and methanol precipitation. The glycoconjugates migrated as broad bands upon SDS-PAGE. The T. foetus glycoconjugate contained large amounts of fucose along with some mannose, galactose, glucosamine and glucose and trace amounts of galactosamine and inositol. The T. vaginalis glycoconjugate appeared to contain large amounts of glucosamine and galactose along with some glucose, mannose and traces of galactosamine and inositol. The surface-labeled glycoconjugates from both parasites was found to be deaminated with nitrous acid and susceptible to phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C, indicating the presence of a phospholipid anchor. Furthermore, these glycoconjugate were found to contain phosphate and were labile to hydrolysis by mild acid, strongly suggesting that the intact molecule is related to Leishmania lipophosphoglycans (LPG). The most striking and the unique features of these glycoconjugate molecules are the presence of large amounts of fucose in T. foetus and glucosamine in T. vaginalis along with the presence of galactosamine in both parasites. These results indicate that these glycoconjugates are new types of LPG-like molecules expressed on the trichomonad cell surface and are structurally distinct from Leishmania LPG.