This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental material
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Yoshida, Y.
Right arrow Articles by Cisar, J. O.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Yoshida, Y.
Right arrow Articles by Cisar, J. O.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, June 2006, p. 4125-4130, Vol. 188, No. 11
0021-9193/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01843-05
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Molecular Basis of L-Rhamnose Branch Formation in Streptococcal Coaggregation Receptor Polysaccharides{dagger}

Yasuo Yoshida,1,{ddagger} Soumya Ganguly,2 C. Allen Bush,2 and John O. Cisar1*

Oral Infection and Immunity Branch, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892,1 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland—Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland 212502

Received 2 December 2005/ Accepted 14 March 2006

The presence of L-rhamnose (Rha) branches in the coaggregation receptor polysaccharides (RPS) of Streptococcus gordonii 38 and Streptococcus oralis J22 was eliminated by replacement of wefB with ermAM in these strains. The expression of this gene in S. oralis 34 did not, however, result in the addition of Rha branches to the linear RPS of this strain, which is identical to that produced by the wefB-deficient mutant of S. gordonii 38. This paradoxical finding was explained by a subtle difference in acceptor specificity of the galactose-1-phosphotransferases encoded by downstream wefC in S. gordonii 38 and wefH in S. oralis 34. These genes were distinguished by the unique ability of WefC to act on the branched acceptor formed by the action of WefB.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Building 30, Room 3A-301, 30 Convent Drive, NIDCR, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892-4352. Phone: (301) 496-1822. Fax: (301) 402-1064. E-mail: john.cisar{at}nih.gov.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jb.asm.org/.

{ddagger} Present address: Department of Dental Pharmacology, Iwate Medical University School of Dentistry, 1-3-27 Chuo-dori, Morioka, Iwate 020-8505, Japan.

Journal of Bacteriology, June 2006, p. 4125-4130, Vol. 188, No. 11
0021-9193/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01843-05
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Yang, J., Ritchey, M., Yoshida, Y., Bush, C. A., Cisar, J. O. (2009). Comparative Structural and Molecular Characterization of Ribitol-5-Phosphate-Containing Streptococcus oralis Coaggregation Receptor Polysaccharides. J. Bacteriol. 191: 1891-1900 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Yoshida, Y., Yang, J., Peaker, P.-E., Kato, H., Bush, C. A., Cisar, J. O. (2008). Molecular and Antigenic Characterization of a Streptococcus oralis Coaggregation Receptor Polysaccharide by Carbohydrate Engineering in Streptococcus gordonii. J. Biol. Chem. 283: 12654-12664 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Sutcliffe, I. C., Black, G. W., Harrington, D. J. (2008). Bioinformatic insights into the biosynthesis of the Group B carbohydrate in Streptococcus agalactiae. Microbiology 154: 1354-1363 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Mavroidi, A., Aanensen, D. M., Godoy, D., Skovsted, I. C., Kaltoft, M. S., Reeves, P. R., Bentley, S. D., Spratt, B. G. (2007). Genetic Relatedness of the Streptococcus pneumoniae Capsular Biosynthetic Loci. J. Bacteriol. 189: 7841-7855 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»