ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Induction of Cryptococcus laurentii α-galactosidase

Csilla Mészárosová, Nadežda Kolarova, Renáta Vadkertiová, and Eva Stratilová

Institute of Chemistry, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, SK-845 38 Bratislava, Slovakia

E-mail: chemevi@savba.sk

Abstract: The surface activity of Cryptococcus laurentii α-galactosidase can be significantly (up to 80 times) influenced by a carbon source present in a cultivation medium. Induction of this enzyme is stimulated by the presence of saccharides containing bound galactose. The highest activity observed when the cells grew in a lactose medium was probably a consequence of the absence of cleavage products serving as repressors (glucose). This idea is supported by the poor growth of cells in the medium with lactose as the carbon source. The induction of surface α-galactosidase was accompanied by increased activities in cytosole. The membrane fraction also contained this enzyme, but the influence of the carbon source was not proportional. The induction of α-galactosidase may play an important role in galactose metabolism of the genus Cryptococcus with a direct influence on the virulence of these capsular yeasts.

Keywords: Cryptococcus laurentii – α-galactosidase – induction – capsular polysaccharides – capsule

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-012-0170-2

Chemical Papers 66 (9) 806–813 (2012)