Structure of glycoconjugates from the cell-wall of mycobacterium tuberculosis

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Project objective

Research objectives and content Tuberculosis has re-emerged as a major public health problem, a situation which has been exacerbated by the lack of a wide array of chemotherapeutic agents against its causative agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, resulting in the development of drug resistant strains. The cell wall of Mycobacterium spp. is essential for growth and survival in the infected host, and some of the most effective antimycobacterial drugs are known to inhibit the biosynthesis of cell wall components . The cell wall is primarily comprised of mycolylated arabinogalactan linked to peptidoclycan and embedded within this matrix is a dominant soluble polysaccharide termed lipoarabinomannan. Although some structural features of these components have been elucidated, the key elements remain to he determined. We propose a programme of research involving structural and conformational analysis of these cell-wall components. Training content (objective, benefit and expected impact) It is intended that this project will offer the candidate training in modern multinuclear multidimensional NMR methods and in molecular modelling techniques applied to carbohydrates. These techniques are currently at he cutting edge of modern structural biology. Links with industry / industrial relevance (22) This project is of industrial relevance in that the host laboratory has an ongoing collaboration with Glaxo Wellcome (UK) on the cell-wall glycans of Mycobacteria.

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Participants

• Aristotle University of Thessaloniki · ThessalonikiCoordinatorGreece

Links

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