title: Glucan synthesis in Pneumocystis carinii.
abstract: Rat-derived Pneumocystis carinii lysed with sodium deoxycholate catalysed the incorporation of uridine diphosphoglucose into an insoluble polymer. This enzyme activity was present in both the pellet and the supernatant when the P. carinii preparations were centrifuged. The polymer whose production was catalysed by the supernatant was examined by mass spectrometry and found to be an alpha 1----4 glucan, which is either unbranched or has relatively few branches. Polymer formation was completely inhibited by the addition of alpha amyloglucohydrolase to the supernatant. Polymer formation in the pellet of deoxycholate P. carinii preparations, unlike that in the supernatant, was partially resistant to alpha amyloglucohydrolase. The soluble glucan synthase activity in the supernatant was stable for more than 30 h at room temperature and was approximately 50 times more active on a cell-to-cell basis than the supernatant from deoxycholate preparations of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisae.
authors.affiliation: MacArthur Center for Molecular Parasitology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06510.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Radding
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dell
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Khoo
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: F F
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.forename: M Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Armstrong
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D003840:Deoxycholic Acid; D005936:Glucans / Q000378:metabolism*; D006006:Glycogen Synthase / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011010:Pneumocystis / Q000201:enzymology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000201:enzymology; D012995:Solubility; D014532:Uridine Diphosphate Glucose / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005936:Glucans; D003840:Deoxycholic Acid; D006006:Glycogen Synthase; D014532:Uridine Diphosphate Glucose