Abstract
The emergence of fungal infections as major causes of morbidity and mortality in immunosuppressed individuals has prompted studies into how the host recognizes fungal pathogens. Fungi are eukaryotes and as such share many similarities with mammalian cells. The most striking difference, though, is the presence of a cell wall that serves to protect the fungus from environmental stresses, particularly osmotic changes [1]. This task is made challenging because the fungus must remodel itself to allow for cell growth and division, including the conversion to different morphotypes, such as occurs during germination of spherical spores into filamentous hyphae. The cell wall also connects the fungus with its environment by triggering intracellular signaling pathways and mediating adhesion to other cells and extracellular matrices. Here, important facts and concepts critical for understanding innate sensing of the fungal cell wall by mammalian pathogens are reviewed.
Highlights
The emergence of fungal infections as major causes of morbidity and mortality in immunosuppressed individuals has prompted studies into how the host recognizes fungal pathogens
While these three components are intermingled throughout the cell wall, chitin tends to predominate near the plasma membrane, whereas the mannans have a propensity for the outer cell wall [1,2]. b-1,3-glucans form the main structural scaffold of the cell wall and have varying amounts of b-1,6 branches
Mannoproteins can covalently attach to glucans or chitin via either their sugar residues or via glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) links
Summary
University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America. The most striking difference, though, is the presence of a cell wall that serves to protect the fungus from environmental stresses, osmotic changes [1]. The three major components, found in all medically important fungi studied to date, are b-glucans (polymers of glucose), chitin (polymer of Nacetylglucosamine), and mannans. While these three components are intermingled throughout the cell wall, chitin tends to predominate near the plasma membrane, whereas the mannans have a propensity for the outer cell wall [1,2]. More subtle differences exist too, such as variations in the length and type of linkages in mannans [3,8]
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