TY - JOUR
T1 - Fungal polysaccharides
T2 - Biological activity beyond the usual structural properties
AU - Rodrigues, Marcio L.
AU - Nimrichter, Leonardo
AU - Cordero, Radames J.B.
AU - Casadevall, Arturo
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Studies on structure and function of polysaccharides in biological systems classically involve sequence and compositional analyses, anomeric configuration, type of glycosidic linkage, and presence of substituents. Recent studies, however, indicates that other structural parameters, so far little explored, can directly influence the biological activity of microbial polysaccharides. Among these parameters, we highlight the molecular dimensions of Cryptococcus neoformans polysaccharides, which appear to be inversely correlated with their immunobiological activity. These recent observations raise new concepts about the structure and function of polysaccharides, which stimulates the design of new experimental approaches and suggests previously unknown applications.
AB - Studies on structure and function of polysaccharides in biological systems classically involve sequence and compositional analyses, anomeric configuration, type of glycosidic linkage, and presence of substituents. Recent studies, however, indicates that other structural parameters, so far little explored, can directly influence the biological activity of microbial polysaccharides. Among these parameters, we highlight the molecular dimensions of Cryptococcus neoformans polysaccharides, which appear to be inversely correlated with their immunobiological activity. These recent observations raise new concepts about the structure and function of polysaccharides, which stimulates the design of new experimental approaches and suggests previously unknown applications.
KW - Cryptococcus neoformans
KW - Fungal pathogens
KW - Immunity
KW - Polysaccharides
KW - Structure and function of polysaccharides
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84862321645&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.3389/fmicb.2011.00171
DO - 10.3389/fmicb.2011.00171
M3 - Comment/debate
C2 - 21886639
AN - SCOPUS:84862321645
SN - 1664-302X
VL - 2
JO - Frontiers in Microbiology
JF - Frontiers in Microbiology
IS - AUG
ER -