Mannose and fructose metabolism

The mannose and fructose metabolism pathway presented here is different from the pathway for Toxoplasma gondii in two aspects. This pathway utilises fructose, a hexose (may be from host) and fructose-6-phosphate, a glycolysis intermediate for the production of important nucleotide sugar GDP-D-mannose in Cryptosporidium species. This is an essential substrate for glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor biosynthesis and synthesis of the anchors for N-glycans (N-glycans biosynthesis). GDP-L-fucose is also synthesised in T. gondii and Plasmodium falciparum, which is missing in Cryptosporidium species. The enzyme mannitol dehydrogenase was identified in all three Cryptosporidium genomes, which is absent in T. gondii gene models. No other enzymes involved in mannitol metabolism were identified so far in these genomes.

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Sources and fates of metabolites