Elsevier

Microbes and Infection

Volume 11, Issue 2, February 2009, Pages 215-222
Microbes and Infection

Original article
Leishmania donovani lipophosphoglycan inhibits phagosomal maturation via action on membrane rafts

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micinf.2008.11.007Get rights and content
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Abstract

Lipophosphoglycan (LPG), the major surface glycoconjugate on Leishmania donovani promastigotes, is crucial for the establishment of infection inside macrophages. LPG comprises a polymer of repeating Galβ1,4Manα-PO4 attached to a lysophosphatidylinositol membrane anchor. LPG is transferred from the parasite to the host macrophage membrane during phagocytosis and induces periphagosomal F-actin accumulation correlating with an inhibition of phagosomal maturation. The biophysical properties of LPG suggest that it may be intercalated into membrane rafts of the host-cell membrane. The aim of this study was to investigate if the effects of LPG on phagosomal maturation are mediated via action on membrane rafts. We show that LPG accumulates in rafts during phagocytosis of L. donovani and that disruption of membrane rafts abolished the effects of LPG on periphagosomal F-actin and phagosomal maturation, indicating that LPG requires intact membrane rafts to manipulate host-cell functions. We conclude that LPG associates with membrane rafts in the host cell and exert its actions on host-cell actin and phagosomal maturation through subversion of raft function.

Keywords

Leishmania
Lipophosphoglycan
Membrane rafts
Phagosomal maturation
Actin

Cited by (0)

1

These authors contributed equally.

2

Present address: Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.

3

Present address: Department of Biomedicine, School of Health and Medical Sciences, Örebro University, Sweden.