Pivotal roles of the outer membrane polysaccharide export and polysaccharide copolymerase protein families in export of extracellular polysaccharides in gram-negative bacteria.

ABSTRACT: Many bacteria export extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) and capsular polysaccharides (CPS). These polymers exhibit remarkably diverse structures and play important roles in the biology of free-living, commensal, and pathogenic bacteria. EPS and CPS production represents a major challenge because these high-molecular-weight hydrophilic polymers must be assembled and exported in a process spanning the envelope, without compromising the essential barrier properties of the envelope. Emerging evidence points to the existence of molecular scaffolds that perform these critical polymer-trafficking functions. Two major pathways with different polymer biosynthesis strategies are involved in the assembly of most EPS/CPS: the Wzy-dependent and ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter-dependent pathways

SUBMITTER: Cuthbertson L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2650888 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature