Structural analysis and immunostimulatory activity of glycopeptides from Paecilomyces sinensis

Abstract

The parasitic fungus, Paecilomyces sinensis, is used to produce Cordyceps materials as a succedaneum of natural Cordyceps sinensis (C. sinensis) in China. In this work, a glycopeptide (CPS-II) was isolated and purified from Paecilomyces sinensis. The result of HPLC indicated that CPS-II was a glycopeptide. The estimated average molecular weight of CPS-II was 2 × 10⁶ Da. FTIR, methylation, periodate oxidation, Smith degradation, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR and CD were used for its structural analysis. The glycopeptide CPS-II was mainly composed of (1 → 3), (1 → 4) connected glucose and galactose as the backbone, there are (1 → 2,3,6) connected glucose, (1 → 3,6) connected mannose, and (1 → 6) connected galactose. Cell proliferation assay and morphological observations indicated that in a certain range of concentrations and time, CPS-II can significantly improve the proliferation activity of RAW264.7 cells.