Functional identification of a galactosyltransferase critical to Bacteroides fragilis Capsular Polysaccharide A biosynthesis.

ABSTRACT: Capsular Polysaccharide A (CPSA), a polymer of a four-sugar repeating unit that coats the surface of the mammalian symbiont Bacteroides fragilis, has therapeutic potential in animal models of Multiple Sclerosis and other autoinflammatory diseases. Genetic studies have demonstrated that CPSA biosynthesis is dependent primarily on a single gene cluster within the B. fragilis genome. However, the precise functions of the individual glycosyltransferases encoded by this cluster have not been identified. In this report each of these glycosyltransferases (WcfQ, WcfP, and WcfN) have been expressed and tested for their function in vitro. Using a reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assay, WcfQ and WcfP were found to transfer galactose from uridine diphosphate (UDP)-linked gal

SUBMITTER: Troutman JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4119839 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature