期刊
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
卷 106, 期 4, 页码 1228-1233出版社
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0808995106
关键词
GXM; GalXM
资金
- National Institutes of Health [AI033774, 5R01HL059842, 2R37AI033142]
- Brazilian agencies Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq)
- Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ)
- Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP)
- Fundacao Coordenacao Aperteicoamento Avanco de Pessoal de N vel Superior
- Instituto do Milenio de Nanociencias
- Instituto do Milenio de Avanco Global e Integrado da Matematica Brasileira
- Fundacao Universitaria Jose Bonifacio
The human pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans has a distinctive polysaccharide (PS) capsule that enlarges during infection. The capsule is essential for virulence, but the mechanism for capsular growth is unknown. In the present study, we used dynamic light scattering (LS) analysis of capsular PS and optical tweezers (OT) to explore the architecture of the capsule. Analysis of capsular PS from cells with small and large capsules by dynamic LS revealed a linear correlation between PS effective diameter and microscopic capsular diameter. This result implied that capsule growth was achieved by the addition of molecules with larger effective diameter, such that some molecules can span the entire diameter of the capsule. Measurement of polystyrene bead penetration of C. neoformans capsules by using OT techniques revealed that the outer regions were penetrable, but not the inner regions. Our results provide a mechanism for capsular enlargement based on the axial lengthening of PS molecules and suggest a model for the architecture of a eukaryotic microbial capsule.
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