Aquilini E, Azevedo J, Jimenez N, Bouamama L, Tomás JM, Regué M
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Functional Identification of the Proteus mirabilis Core Lipopolysaccharide Biosynthesis Genes.
J Bacteriol. 2010 Sep;192(17):4413-24
Authors: Aquilini E, Azevedo J, Jimenez N, Bouamama L, Tomás JM, Regué M
In this study, we report the identification of genes required for the biosynthesis of the core lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) of two strains of Proteus mirabilis. Since P. mirabilis and Klebsiella pneumoniae share a core LPS carbohydrate backbone extending up to the second outer-core residue, the functions of the common P. mirabilis genes was elucidated by genetic complementation studies using well-defined mutants of K. pneumoniae. The functions of strain-specific outer-core genes were identified by using as surrogate acceptors LPSs from two well-defined K. pneumoniae core LPS mutants. This approach allowed the identification of two new heptosyltransferases (WamA and WamC), a galactosyltransferase (WamB), and an N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase (WamD). In both strains, most of these genes were found in the so-called waa gene cluster, although one common core biosynthetic gene (wabO) was found outside this cluster.
PMID: 20622068 [PubMed - in process]
