Figure 3.

Acidic glycosphingolipids found in fungi according to fungal phylogenetic relationships. The scheme shows two sub-phylum from the Phylum Ascomycota: sub-phylum Saccharomycotina and sub-phylum Pezizomycotina. The former is represented by two of the most studies yeast, Candida spp and S. cerevisiae, their GIPCs were described by Steiner (Steiner et al., 1969), as two basic structures (Man2IPC and IP6Man2IPC). Five fungi are representing the sub-phylum Pezizomycotina, as can be observed they present the most variable repertoire of glycan structures in three possible core: Manα2IPC, which is present in all five fungi; GlcNα2IPC, which is present in A. fumigatus and S. schenckii; and Manα6IPC which is present only in S. schenckii (Barr and Lester, 1984; Barr et al., 1984; Toledo et al., 1995, 2000, 2007; Levery et al., 1996, 1998; Loureiro y Penha et al., 2001; Aoki et al., 2004; Suzuki et al., 2008). Phylum Basidiomycota is represented by C. neoformans which presents GIPCs with up to eight residues of carbohydrates expressing xylose residues. It is noteworthy that its capsule is rich in xylose (Heise et al., 2002).