Glycobiology, 2018, 28(11):876-884

Acinetobacter baumannii K20 and K21 capsular polysaccharide structures establish roles for UDP-glucose dehydrogenase Ugd2, pyruvyl transferase Ptr2 and two glycosyltransferases.

Infections caused by Acinetobacter baumannii isolates from the major global clones, GC1 and GC2, are difficult to treat with antibiotics, and phage therapy, which requires extensive knowledge of the variation in the surface polysaccharides, is an option under consideration. The gene clusters directing synthesis of capsular polysaccharide (CPS) in A. baumannii GC1 isolate A388 and GC2 isolate G21 differ by a single glycosyltransferase (gtr) gene. They include genes encoding a novel UDP-glucose dehydrogenase (Ugd2) and a putative pyruvyltransferase (Ptr2). The composition and structures of the linear K20 and K21 tetrasaccharide repeats (K units) of the CPSs isolated from A338 and G21, respectively, were established by sugar analyses and Smith degradation along with one- and two-dimensional 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. The K20 and K21 CPSs are the first known to include GlcpA produced by Ugd2 and d-galactose with an (R)-configured 4,6-pyruvic acid acetal added by Prt2. The first sugar in the tetrasaccharide K units is 2-acetamido-4-amino-2,4,6-trideoxy-d-glucose (D-QuipNAc4N) that carries a 4-N-[(S)-3-hydroxybutanoyl] group in some K units and a 4-N-acetyl group in the others. Accordingly, K unit polymerases WzyK20 and WzyK21 form a β-D-QuipNAc4NR-(1→2)-D-Galp bond. The K20 and K21 units differ only in the configuration of the glycosidic linkages of d-GlcpNAc allowing the unique inverting glycosyltransferases Gtr43 and the retaining glycosyltransferase Gtr45 to be assigned to formation of the β-D-GlcpNAc-(1→4)-D-GlcpA and α-D-GlcpNAc-(1→4)-D-GlcpA linkages, respectively.

Kasimova AA, Kenyon JJ, Arbatsky NP, Shashkov AS, Popova AV, Shneider MM, Knirel YA, Hall RM

IBCH: 6418
Кол-во цитирований на 01.2024: 24
Данные статьи проверены модераторами 2018-11-01