Journal of Glycobiology
Open Access
ISSN: 2168-958X
+44 1478 350008
ISSN: 2168-958X
+44 1478 350008
Seung Yeon Chung
Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Glycobiol
The human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans causes life-threatening meningitis in immunocompromised patients.
The virulence of C. neoformans depends on production of a polysaccharide capsule and deposition of melanin in the cell wall
along with an ability to secrete various proteins. Secreted phospholipase B1 (PLB1) with high levels of N-linked glycosylation
is one of fungal virulence determinants. Several mannoproteins such as chitin deacetylase 2(MP98) are also known as key
antigens stimulating T-cell response. Here, we report secretory expression analysis of PLB1 and MP98 by constructing Histagged
and GPI anchorless PLB1 (PLB1-HisGPI-) and MP98 (MP98-HisGPI-) proteins and expressing them in the wild-type and
several glycosylation mutant strains of C. neoformans. The apparent molecular weights of PLB1-HisGPI- and MP98-HisGPI- were
decreased in the mutant strains such as alg3�?�?, mnn2�?�? and och1�?�? strains respectively which have defects in biosynthesis of
N-linked glycans. Unexpectedly, the molecular weight of MP98-HisGPI- secreted from the O-glycosylation mutants was identical
to that secreted from the wild type suggesting that ser/thr-rich regions in C-terminus of MP98 might not be O-glycosylated.
Moreover, we observed that MP98 was secreted as more heavily glycosylated forms in synthetic complete medium compared to
the cultivation with rich medium. The purified mannoproteins with different degree of glycosylation would be valuable tools to
investigate the role of glycans assembled on mannoproteins in the interaction of C. neoformans with host cells.
Seung Yeon Chung completed Bachelor of Science at the age of 22 years from Suwon University. I am a graduate student in the master course of molecular biology
under the supervision of Professor H. A. Kang at Department of Life Science, Chung-Ang University in Seoul, Korea.