Identification of the Mycobacterium marinum Apa antigen O-mannosylation sites reveals important glycosylation variability with the M. tuberculosis Apa homologue

The 45/47 kDa Apa, an immuno-dominant antigen secreted by Mycobacterium tuberculosis is O-mannosylated at multiple sites. Glycosylation of Apa plays a key role in colonization and invasion of the host cells by M. tuberculosis through interactions of Apa with the host immune system C-type lectins. Mycobacterium marinum (M.ma) a fish pathogen, phylogenetically close to M. tuberculosis, induces a granulomatous response with features similar to those described for M. tuberculosis in human. Although M.ma possesses an Apa homologue, its glycosylation status is unknown, and whether this represents a crucial element in the pathophysiology induced by M.ma remains to be addressed. To this aim, we have identified two concanavalin A-reactive 45/47 kDa proteins from M.ma, which have been further purified by a two-step anion exchange chromatography process. Advanced liquid chromatography-nanoESI mass spectrometry-based proteomic analyses of peptides, derived from either tryptic digestion alone or in combination with the Asp-N endoproteinase, established that M.ma Apa possesses up to seven distinct O-mannosylated sites with mainly single mannose substitutions, which can be further extended at the Ser/Thr/Pro rich region near the N-terminus. This opens the way to further studies focussing on the involvement and biological functions of Apa O-mannosylation using the M.ma/zebrafish model.