O-antigen polymerase adopts a distributive mechanism for lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis

Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2014 May;98(9):4075-81. doi: 10.1007/s00253-014-5552-7. Epub 2014 Feb 21.

Abstract

Bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is an essential cell envelope component for gram-negative bacteria. As the most variable region of LPS, O antigens serve as important virulence determinants for many bacteria and represent a promising carbohydrate source for glycoconjugate vaccines. In the Wzy-dependent O-antigen biosynthetic pathway, the integral membrane protein Wzy was shown to be the sole enzyme responsible for polymerization of O-repeat unit. Its catalytic mechanism, however, remains elusive. Herein, Wzy was successfully overexpressed in Escherichia coli with an N-terminal His10-tag. Blue native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (BN-PAGE) revealed that the Wzy protein exists in its native confirmation as a dimer. Subsequently, we chemo-enzymatically synthesized the substrates of Wzy, the lipid-PP-linked repeat units. Together with an optimized O-antigen visualization method, we monitored the production of reaction intermediates at varying times. We present here our result as the first biochemical evidence that Wzy functions in a distributive manner.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel
  • Escherichia coli / enzymology*
  • Escherichia coli / metabolism*
  • Escherichia coli Proteins / genetics*
  • Escherichia coli Proteins / metabolism*
  • Gene Expression
  • Glycosyltransferases / genetics*
  • Glycosyltransferases / metabolism*
  • Hexosyltransferases / genetics*
  • Hexosyltransferases / metabolism*
  • Lipopolysaccharides / biosynthesis*
  • Protein Multimerization
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / metabolism

Substances

  • Escherichia coli Proteins
  • Lipopolysaccharides
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins
  • Glycosyltransferases
  • Hexosyltransferases
  • O-antigen polymerase
  • Wzy polymerase, E coli