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Predicted Glycosyl Transferase Genes Located outside the HEP Island Are Required for Formation of Heterocyst Envelope Polysaccharide in Anabaena sp. Strain PCC 7120 ^,

Yu Wang,^1, Sigal Lechno-Yossef,^2, Yangmin Gong,¹ Qing Fan,^2,¶ C. Peter Wolk,^2,3 and Xudong Xu^1*

The State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430072, People's Republic of China,¹ MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory,² Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824³

Received 7 March 2007/ Accepted 26 April 2007

During maturation, heterocysts form an envelope layer of polysaccharide, called heterocyst envelope polysaccharide (HEP), whose synthesis depends on a cluster of genes, the HEP island, and on an additional, distant gene, hepB, or a gene immediately downstream from hepB. We show that HEP formation depends upon the predicted glycosyl transferase genes all4160 at a third locus and alr3699, which is adjacent to hepB and is cotranscribed with it. Mutations in the histidine kinase genes hepN and hepK appear to silence the promoter of hepB and incompletely down-regulate all4160.

Published ahead of print on 4 May 2007.

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

Present address: College of Life Sciences, Huazhong Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei 430079, China.

Present address: Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824.

^¶ Present address: Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 303 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611-3008.