title: Functional identification of the Proteus mirabilis core lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis genes.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Departamento Microbiología y Parasitología Sanitarias, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad Barcelona, Av. Joan XXIII s/n, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aquilini
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Azevedo
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jimenez
authors.forename: Lamiaa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bouamama
authors.forename: Juan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Tomás
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Regué
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D005700:Galactosyltransferases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D005964:Glucosyltransferases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D016695:Glycosyltransferases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D007711:Klebsiella pneumoniae / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D009154:Mutation; D017351:N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011513:Proteus mirabilis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; C430212:lipopolysaccharide, Proteus; D016695:Glycosyltransferases; D005700:Galactosyltransferases; D005964:Glucosyltransferases; D017351:N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferases; C037649:N-acetyllactosaminide beta-1,6-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase; C086735:heptosyltransferase