Eukaryotic UDP-galactopyranose mutase (GLF gene) in microbial and metazoal pathogens.

ABSTRACT: Galactofuranose (Gal(f)) is a novel sugar absent in mammals but present in a variety of pathogenic microbes, often within glycoconjugates that play critical roles in cell surface formation and the infectious cycle. In prokaryotes, Gal(f) is synthesized as the nucleotide sugar UDP-Gal(f) by UDP-galactopyranose mutase (UGM) (gene GLF). Here we used a combinatorial bioinformatics screen to identify a family of candidate eukaryotic GLFs that had previously escaped detection. GLFs from three pathogens, two protozoa (Leishmania major and Trypanosoma cruzi) and one fungus (Cryptococcus neoformans), had UGM activity when expressed in Escherichia coli and assayed in vivo and/or in vitro. Eukaryotic GLFs are closely related to each other but distantly related to prokaryotic GLFs, showing limited con

SUBMITTER: Beverley SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1151986 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature