Structural analysis of the mannan region of lipoarabinomannan from Mycobacterium bovis BCG. Heterogeneity in phosphorylation state.

Lipoarabinomannan (LAM) is a major antigen of mycobacterial cell walls, involved in host-Mycobacterium interactions. In a previous work, LAM from the vaccine strain, Mycobacterium bovis BCG, was found to exhibit mannooligosaccharides at its arabinan nonreducing ends (ManLAM). The present report concerns the mannan core structure of this ManLAM. After partial hydrolysis of ManLAM, two populations of mannans (Ma1 and Ma2) were obtained by gel filtration chromatography. Their structural features were defined by means of two-dimensional homo- and heteronuclear (1H-13C) NMR sequences and methylation analysis. They were both found to be composed of an alpha-(1-->6)-linked mannan backbone with alpha-(1-->2)-Manp-linked side chains. They are highly branched, and Ma2 presents a higher frequency of branching than Ma1. Moreover, chemical analysis indicates that only Ma1 is phosphorylated. By a two-dimensional heteronuclear 1H-31P total correlation experiment, the phosphate was found to be involved in a phosphodiester bond between inositol C-1 and glycerol C-3. Then, the molecular mass of mannan was established by mass spectrometry, which revealed a molecular mass of 3517 Da for the major molecular species of Ma1. Likewise, analysis of unfractionated mannans showed the occurrence of other, quantitatively minor molecular species, endowed with two phosphates. This study clearly indicates that the mannan region of M. bovis BCG ManLAM exists as a heterogeneous population of molecules whose structures differ in their degree of glycosylation, level of branching, and phosphorylation state. The hypothesis that the relative abundance of these different molecules modulates the biological functions of LAM is discussed.