A pseudaminic acid or a legionaminic acid derivative transferase is strain-specifically implicated in the general protein O-glycosylation system of the periodontal pathogen Tannerella forsythia.

ABSTRACT: The occurrence of nonulosonic acids in bacteria is wide-spread and linked to pathogenicity. However, the knowledge of cognate nonulosonic acid transferases is scarce. In the periodontopathogen Tannerella forsythia, several proposed virulence factors carry strain-specifically either a pseudaminic or a legionaminic acid derivative as terminal sugar on an otherwise structurally identical, protein-bound oligosaccharide. This study aims to shed light on the transfer of either nonulosonic acid derivative on a proximal N-acetylmannosaminuronic acid residue within the O-glycan structure, exemplified with the bacterium's abundant S-layer glycoproteins. Bioinformatic analyses provided the candidate genes Tanf_01245 (strain ATCC 43037) and TFUB4_00887 (strain UB4), encoding a putative pseudaminic and

SUBMITTER: Tomek MB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5420450 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature