title: The firA gene of Escherichia coli encodes UDP-3-O-(R-3-hydroxymyristoyl)-glucosamine N-acyltransferase. The third step of endotoxin biosynthesis.
abstract: The possibility that the firA gene of Escherichia coli (Dicker, I. B., and Seetharam, S. (1991) Mol. Microbiol. 6, 817-823) might function in lipid A biosynthesis was examined based on its homology to the lpxA gene, which encodes UDP-N-acetylglucosamine O-acyl-transferase, the first enzyme in lipid A formation. Extracts of a temperature-sensitive firA mutant, RL-25, were assayed for their ability to acylate UDP-GlcNAc, using a coupled assay. The results suggested that extracts of RL-25 might be defective in the third enzyme of this pathway, the UDP-3-O-(R-3-hydroxymyristoyl)-glucosamine N-acyltransferase. Living cells of RL-25 also displayed a 5-fold decreased rate of lipid A biosynthesis at the nonpermissive temperature as judged by a 32Pi incorporation assay. In order to examine N-acyltransferase activity directly, the substrate [alpha-32P]UDP-3-O-(R-3-hydroxymyristoyl)-GlcN was synthesized enzymatically. N-Acyltransferase specific activity in RL-25 extracts was reduced to less than 10% of wild-type. When the wild-type firA gene was cloned into a T7-based expression vector, N-acyltransferase specific activity increased almost 360-fold relative to wild-type extracts, demonstrating that firA is the structural gene for the enzyme. The N-acyltransferase displays absolute specificity for the R-3-OH moiety of R-3-hydroxymyristoyl-ACP, as does the O-acyltransferase, consistent with the placement of R-3-hydroxymyristate in E. coli lipid A.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Merck Research Laboratories, Rahway, New Jersey 07065.
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Stachula
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Raetz
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Anderson
mesh_terms: D000217:Acyltransferases / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D002876:Chromosomes, Bacterial; D004731:Endotoxins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D015870:Gene Expression; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005838:Genotype; D007700:Kinetics; D008050:Lipid A / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D010761:Phosphorus Radioisotopes; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D014537:Uridine Diphosphate N-Acetylglucosamine / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004731:Endotoxins; D008050:Lipid A; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D010761:Phosphorus Radioisotopes; D014537:Uridine Diphosphate N-Acetylglucosamine; D000217:Acyltransferases; C050304:acyl-(acyl-carrier-protein)-UDP-N-acetylglucosamine acyltransferase