The structure of glycan from the protozoan Crithidia oncopelti

N. P. Arbatsky, D. V. Yurtov, A. S. Shashkov, N. N. Sukhareva, T. S. Titova, V. A. Derevitskaya, N. K. Kochetkov

N. D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Academyof Sciences of the USSR, Moscow; Department of Biology, M. V. Lomonosov State University, Moscow

Abstract: A major sugar polymer was isolated from the protozoan Crithidia oncopelti related to Trypanosomatidae family and shown to be a regular glycan built of the tetrasaccharide repeating units. The unit's structure was deduced from the chemical and NMR specters – copy data as follows:

-4)-β-D-Xylp-(1→4)-α-D-Manp-(1→3)-α-L-Fucp-(1→
                         3
                         ↑
                 α-L-Rhap1

In addition to carbohydrates, some fatty acids, inositol, ethanolamine, and phosphate were also found, thus allowing one to consider them as components of hydrophobic anchor of glycan (similar to phosphatidylinositol), an usual structural element of many protozoan glycoproteins and glycophospholipids.

Russian Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry 1991, 17 (5):653-662

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