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Journal of Bacteriology, June 2009, p. 4030-4034, Vol. 191, No. 12
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00611-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

The N-Acetylmannosamine Transferase Catalyzes the First Committed Step of Teichoic Acid Assembly in Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus{triangledown} ,§

Michael A. D'Elia,1 James A. Henderson,2 Terry J. Beveridge,3 David E. Heinrichs,2 and Eric D. Brown1*

Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8N 3Z5, Canada,1 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5C1, Canada,2 Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Biological Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada3

Received 1 May 2008/ Accepted 3 April 2009

There have been considerable strides made in the characterization of the dispensability of teichoic acid biosynthesis genes in recent years. A notable omission thus far has been an early gene in teichoic acid synthesis encoding the N-acetylmannosamine transferase (tagA in Bacillus subtilis; tarA in Staphylococcus aureus), which adds N-acetylmannosamine to complete the synthesis of undecaprenol pyrophosphate-linked disaccharide. Here, we show that the N-acetylmannosamine transferases are dispensable for growth in vitro, making this biosynthetic enzyme the last dispensable gene in the pathway, suggesting that tagA (or tarA) encodes the first committed step in wall teichoic acid synthesis.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, Health Science Centre 4H32, 1200 Main St. West, Hamilton, ON L8N 3Z5, Canada. Phone: (905) 525-9140, ext. 22392. Fax: (905) 522-9033. E-mail: ebrown{at}mcmaster.ca

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 17 April 2009.

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

Journal of Bacteriology, June 2009, p. 4030-4034, Vol. 191, No. 12
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00611-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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