title: A group of Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica O antigens sharing a common backbone structure.
abstract: The O-antigen moiety of the LPS is one of the most variable cell surface components of the Gram-negative bacterial outer membrane. Variation is due to the presence of different sugars and sugar linkages. Here, it is reported that a group of Escherichia coli O serogroups (O17, O44, O73, O77 and O106), and the Salmonella enterica serogroup O : 6,14 (H), share a common four-sugar backbone O-subunit structure, and possess almost identical O-antigen gene clusters. Whereas the E. coli O77 antigen does not have any substitutions, the other O antigens in this group differ by the addition of one or two glucose side branches at various positions of the backbone. The O-antigen gene clusters for all members of the group encode only the proteins required for biosynthesis of the common four-sugar backbone. The identification of three genes within a putative prophage in the E. coli O44 genome is also reported; these genes are presumably involved in the glucosylation of the basic tetrasaccharide unit. This was confirmed by deletion of one of the genes, which encodes a putative glucosyltransferase. Structural analysis of the O antigen produced by the mutant strain demonstrated the absence of glucosylation. An O-antigen structure shared by five E. coli and one S. enterica serogroups, all of which have a long evolutionary history, suggests that the common backbone may be important for the survival of E. coli strains in the environment, or for their pathogenicity.
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Key Laboratory of Microbial Functional Genomics, Nankai University, 23 Hongda Street, TEDA, Tianjin 300457, P. R. China.|TEDA School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Nankai University, 23 Hongda Street, TEDA, Tianjin 300457, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: N. D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russian Federation.
authors.forename: Andrei V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Perepelov
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Key Laboratory of Microbial Functional Genomics, Nankai University, 23 Hongda Street, TEDA, Tianjin 300457, P. R. China.|TEDA School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Nankai University, 23 Hongda Street, TEDA, Tianjin 300457, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: N. D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russian Federation.
authors.forename: Sergei D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Shevelev
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Key Laboratory of Microbial Functional Genomics, Nankai University, 23 Hongda Street, TEDA, Tianjin 300457, P. R. China.|TEDA School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Nankai University, 23 Hongda Street, TEDA, Tianjin 300457, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Quan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: N. D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russian Federation.
authors.forename: Sof'ya N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Senchenkova
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Key Laboratory of Microbial Functional Genomics, Nankai University, 23 Hongda Street, TEDA, Tianjin 300457, P. R. China.|TEDA School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Nankai University, 23 Hongda Street, TEDA, Tianjin 300457, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Weiqing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Key Laboratory of Microbial Functional Genomics, Nankai University, 23 Hongda Street, TEDA, Tianjin 300457, P. R. China.|TEDA School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Nankai University, 23 Hongda Street, TEDA, Tianjin 300457, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yayue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: N. D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russian Federation.
authors.forename: Alexander S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Shashkov
authors.affiliation: N. D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russian Federation.
authors.forename: Yuriy A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Knirel
authors.affiliation: School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences (G08), University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
authors.forename: Peter R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Reeves
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Key Laboratory of Microbial Functional Genomics, Nankai University, 23 Hongda Street, TEDA, Tianjin 300457, P. R. China.|TEDA School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Nankai University, 23 Hongda Street, TEDA, Tianjin 300457, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D003837:Deoxy Sugars / Q000032:analysis; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019081:O Antigens / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*; D019779:Salmonella enterica / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D003837:Deoxy Sugars; D019081:O Antigens