The long-term aim of this research program is to understand the molecular basis of a host-parasite interaction. Ultimately this information will provide the opportunity to devise strategies to protect the host from infection through the production of vaccines or specific inhibitors to block the unique enzymatic pathways required for the parasite's survival. This proposal aims to: obtain carbohydrate sequence data on these two families (LPG and GIPLS) of cell surface glycoconjugates in amastigotes of the infective strain of L.major, V121.; establish the pattern of expression of LPG and GIPLs during the maturation of the promastigotes into the metacyclic, infective form; define the functional unit(s) of LPG responsible for macrophage binding and examine the possibility that this unit, in different Leishmania sp, shows preference for different macrophage subpopulations; This may shed light on the different tissue tropisms of different Leishmania sp, thus relating LPG to patterns of disease manifestations; examine the biosynthetic pathway(s) of LPG and GIPLs with a view to establishing the relationship between these two classes of glycoconjugates, and in the longer term identify targets for new drug development.
