Identification of the sugars involved in mycobacterial cell aggregation.

P Anton (1) , P. Rouge (2) , M. Daffé (2)

1 LISBP - Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Systèmes Biologiques et des Procédés
2 IPBS - Institut de pharmacologie et de biologie structurale

Incubation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and M smegmatis cells with the sugar components of their surface-exposed glycans demonstrated that D-arabinose but not alpha-D-glucose or D-mannose, led to the dispersion of the large clumps formed by the bacilli in stationary liquid cultures. These results confirm the presence of arabinose-containing glycans on the mycobacterial cell surface and demonstrate the implication of selective sugars in cell aggregation, suggesting that the clumping of mycobacterial cells is probably mediated by lectin-carbohydrate interactions.

Mots clés: Mycobacteria; Tuberculosis; Cell aggregation; Carbohydrates

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]; Biochimie, Biologie Moléculaire

P Anton, P. Rouge, M. Daffé. Identification of the sugars involved in mycobacterial cell aggregation.. FEMS Microbiology Letters, 1996, 144, pp.167-70. ⟨hal-01849185⟩