Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Kevin Gibson, Dr Jerome Nigou, Professor Del Besra
Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.
The genus Rhodococcus is part of the phylogenetic group nocardioform actinomycetes, which also includes the genus Mycobacterium. Members of this phylogenetic group have a characteristic cell envelope structure, which is dominated by various complex lipids. Among these, lipoglycans are of particular interest since mycobacterial lipoarabinomannans are important immunomodulatory molecules that are likely to be involved in the subsequent fate of mycobacterial bacilli once inside phagocytic cells. Rhodococcus ruber is a species closely related to an established opportunistic human pathogen, Rhodococcus equi. This paper reports the isolation and characterization of R. ruber lipoarabinomannan, designated as RruLAM. SDS-PAGE and gas chromatography analyses revealed that RruLAM was of an intermediate size between Mycobacterium tuberculosis lipoarabinomannan and lipomannan. Using a combination of chemical degradation and 1H, 13C-NMR experiments, the carbohydrate structure of RruLAM was unambiguously shown to be composed of a linear (α1→6)-Manp backbone substituted at some O-2 positions by a single t-α-Araf sugar unit. Integration of the anomeric proton signals provided an indication of the degree of branching as approximately 45%. The RruLAM structure is much simpler than that established for M. tuberculosis lipoarabinomannan but is also different from that determined for the closely related species and opportunistic human pathogen, R. equi. RruLAM was unable to induce the production of TNF-α by either human or murine macrophage cell lines, suggesting that more sophisticated structures, such as phosphoinositol capping motifs, are required for such activity.
Author(s): Gibson KJC, Gilleron M, Constant P, Puzo G, Nigou J, Besra GS
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Microbiology
Year: 2003
Volume: 149
Issue: 6
Pages: 1437-1445
ISSN (print): 1350-0872
ISSN (electronic): 1465-2080
Publisher: Society for General Microbiology
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.26161-0
DOI: 10.1099/mic.0.26161-0
PubMed id: 12777484
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
