Identification and recombinant expression of a Mycobacterium avium rhamnosyltransferase gene (rtfA) involved in glycopeptidolipid biosynthesis.

ABSTRACT: The Mycobacterium avium complex is a source of disseminated infections in patients with advanced AIDS. This group of mycobacteria is distinguished by the presence of highly antigenic, surface-exposed glycopeptidolipids, and these glycolipids possess variant oligosaccharide structures that are the chemical basis of the 28 distinct serovars of the M. avium complex. We previously described the ser2 gene cluster, encoding the synthesis of the haptenic oligosaccharide (2, 3-dimethylfucose-rhamnose-6-deoxytalose-) of the serovar 2-specific glycopeptidolipid, and revealed a locus (ser2A) encoding a putative rhamnosyltransferase. Sequencing of the ser2A locus demonstrated the presence of three open reading frames, two of which yielded significant homology to several glycosyltransferases, and the d

SUBMITTER: Eckstein TM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC107613 | biostudies-literature | 1998 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature