Glucan and glycogen exist as a covalently linked macromolecular complex in the cell wall of Candida albicans and other Candida species

The fungal cell wall serves as the interface between the organism and its environment. Complex carbohydrates are a major component of the Candida albicans cell wall, i.e., glucan, mannan and chitin. β-Glucan is a pathogen associated molecular pattern (PAMP) composed of β-(1 → 3,1 → 6)-linked glucopyranosyl repeat units. This PAMP plays a key role in fungal structural integrity and immune recognition. Glycogen is an α-(1 → 4,1 → 6)-linked glucan that is an intracellular energy storage carbohydrate. We observed that glycogen was co-extracted during the isolation of β-glucan from C. albicans SC5314. We hypothesized that glucan and glycogen may form a macromolecular species that links intracellular glycogen with cell wall β-(1 → 3,1 → 6)-glucan. To test this hypothesis, we examined glucan-glycogen extracts by multi-dimensional NMR to ascertain if glycogen and β-glucan were interconnected. ¹H NMR analyses confirmed the presence of glycogen and β-glucan in the macromolecule. Diffusion Ordered SpectroscopY (DOSY) confirmed that the β-glucan and glycogen co-diffuse, which indicates a linkage between the two polymers. We determined that the linkage is not via peptides and/or small proteins. Our data indicate that glycogen is covalently linked to β-(1 → 3,1 → 6) glucan via the β -(1 → 6)-linked side chain. We also found that the glucan-glycogen complex was present in C. dublinensis, C. haemulonii and C. auris, but was not present in C. glabrata or C. albicans hyphal glucan. These data demonstrate that glucan and glycogen form a novel macromolecular complex in the cell wall of C. albicans and other Candida species. This new and unique structure expands our understanding of the cell wall in Candida species.