title: Aeromonas surface glucan attached through the O-antigen ligase represents a new way to obtain UDP-glucose.
abstract: We previously reported that A. hydrophila GalU mutants were still able to produce UDP-glucose introduced as a glucose residue in their lipopolysaccharide core. In this study, we found the unique origin of this UDP-glucose from a branched α-glucan surface polysaccharide. This glucan, surface attached through the O-antigen ligase (WaaL), is common to the mesophilic Aeromonas strains tested. The Aeromonas glucan is produced by the action of the glycogen synthase (GlgA) and the UDP-Glc pyrophosphorylase (GlgC), the latter wrongly indicated as an ADP-Glc pyrophosphorylase in the Aeromonas genomes available. The Aeromonas glycogen synthase is able to react with UDP or ADP-glucose, which is not the case of E. coli glycogen synthase only reacting with ADP-glucose. The Aeromonas surface glucan has a role enhancing biofilm formation. Finally, for the first time to our knowledge, a clear preference on behalf of bacterial survival and pathogenesis is observed when choosing to produce one or other surface saccharide molecules to produce (lipopolysaccharide core or glucan).
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Barcelona, Diagonal, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Susana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Merino
authors.forename: Lamiaa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bouamama
authors.forename: Yuriy A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Knirel
authors.forename: Sofya N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Senchenkova
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Regué
authors.forename: Juan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Tomás
mesh_terms: D000333:Aeromonas / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D005936:Glucans / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D006006:Glycogen Synthase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008025:Ligases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000378:metabolism; D050296:Microbial Viability; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D019081:O Antigens / Q000378:metabolism; D005957:UTP-Glucose-1-Phosphate Uridylyltransferase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014532:Uridine Diphosphate Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D005936:Glucans; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D019081:O Antigens; D006006:Glycogen Synthase; D005957:UTP-Glucose-1-Phosphate Uridylyltransferase; D008025:Ligases; D014532:Uridine Diphosphate Glucose