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Journal of Bacteriology, March 1999, p. 1883-1891, Vol. 181, No. 6
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Genetic Analysis of the Serratia marcescens N28b O4 Antigen Gene Cluster

Francesc Saigí,1 Núria Climent,1 Núria Piqué,1 Cesar Sanchez,1 Susana Merino,2 Xavier Rubirés,2 Alicia Aguilar,2 Juan M. Tomás,2 and Miguel Regué1,*

Departamento de Microbiología y Parasitología Sanitarias, División de Ciéncias de la Salud, Facultad de Farmacia,1 and Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Biología,2 Universidad de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

Received 3 September 1998/Accepted 13 January 1999

The Serratia marcescens N28b wbbL gene has been shown to complement the rfb-50 mutation of Escherichia coli K-12 derivatives, and a wbbL mutant has been shown to be impaired in O4-antigen biosynthesis (X. Rubirés, F. Saigí, N. Piqué, N. Climent, S. Merino, S. Albertí, J. M. Tomás, and M. Regué, J. Bacteriol. 179:7581-7586, 1997). We analyzed a recombinant cosmid containing the wbbL gene by subcloning and determination of O-antigen production phenotype in E. coli DH5alpha by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide electrophoresis and Western blot experiments with S. marcescens O4 antiserum. The results obtained showed that a recombinant plasmid (pSUB6) containing about 10 kb of DNA insert was enough to induce O4-antigen biosynthesis. The same results were obtained when an E. coli K-12 strain with a deletion of the wb cluster was used, suggesting that the O4 wb cluster is located in pSUB6. No O4 antigen was produced when plasmid pSUB6 was introduced in a wecA mutant E. coli strain, suggesting that O4-antigen production is wecA dependent. Nucleotide sequence determination of the whole insert in plasmid pSUB6 showed seven open reading frames (ORFs). On the basis of protein similarity analysis of the ORF-encoded proteins and analysis of the S. marcescens N28b wbbA insertion mutant and wzm-wzt deletion mutant, we suggest that the O4 wb cluster codes for two dTDP-rhamnose biosynthetic enzymes (RmlDC), a rhamnosyltransferase (WbbL), a two-component ATP-binding-cassette-type export system (Wzm Wzt), and a putative glycosyltransferase (WbbA). A sequence showing DNA homology to insertion element IS4 was found downstream from the last gene in the cluster (wbbA), suggesting that an IS4-like element could have been involved in the acquisition of the O4 wb cluster.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Departamento de Microbiología y Parasitología Sanitarias, División de Ciéncias de la Salud, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain. Phone: 34-3-4024496. Fax: 34-3-4021886. E-mail: regue{at}farmacia.far.ub.es.

Journal of Bacteriology, March 1999, p. 1883-1891, Vol. 181, No. 6
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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