Solid-state NMR Reveals the Carbon-based Molecular Architecture of Cryptococcus neoformans Fungal Eumelanins in the Cell Wall.

ABSTRACT: Melanin pigments protect against both ionizing radiation and free radicals and have potential soil remediation capabilities. Eumelanins produced by pathogenic Cryptococcus neoformans fungi are virulence factors that render the fungal cells resistant to host defenses and certain antifungal drugs. Because of their insoluble and amorphous characteristics, neither the pigment bonding framework nor the cellular interactions underlying melanization of C. neoformans have yielded to comprehensive molecular-scale investigation. This study used the C. neoformans requirement of exogenous obligatory catecholamine precursors for melanization to produce isotopically enriched pigment "ghosts" and applied 2D (13)C-(13)C correlation solid-state NMR to reveal the carbon-based architecture of intact natural

SUBMITTER: Chatterjee S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4447955 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature