Sulfoquinovose Catabolism in <i>E. coli</i> Strains: Compositional and Functional Divergence of <i>yih</i> Gene Cassettes.

ABSTRACT: The sulfo-Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas (sulfo-EMP) pathway enables Escherichia coli to utilize sulfoquinovose, (SQ) a sulfonated sugar derived from plant sulfolipids, as a carbon source. This pathway is encoded by the yih gene cassette. However, structural and functional diversity of this cassette across E. coli strains has not been fully characterized. We identified two structural variants of the yih cassette across E. coli and Shigella strains: a long form (ompL-yihOPQRSTUVW) and a truncated short form (yihTUVW). Both forms occupy the same genomic location but differ in orientation and are scattered across the phylogenetic tree, suggesting frequent recombination events. Transcriptome analyses revealed that only the long cassette, as found

SUBMITTER: Kaznadzey AD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12608037 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature