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Journal of Bacteriology, October 2004, p. 6792-6799, Vol. 186, No. 20
0021-9193/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.186.20.6792-6799.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Methylation of GPLs in Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium avium

Dharshini Jeevarajah,1 John H. Patterson,2 Ellen Taig,1 Tobias Sargeant,3 Malcolm J. McConville,2 and Helen Billman-Jacobe1*

Department of Microbiology and Immunology,1 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Melbourne,2 Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia3

Received 12 June 2004/ Accepted 22 July 2004

Several species of mycobacteria express abundant glycopeptidolipids (GPLs) on the surfaces of their cells. The GPLs are glycolipids that contain modified sugars including acetylated 6-deoxy-talose and methylated rhamnose. Four methyltransferases have been implicated in the synthesis of the GPLs of Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium avium. A rhamnosyl 3-O-methytransferase and a fatty acid methyltransferase of M. smegmatis have been previously characterized. In this paper, we characterize the methyltransferases that are responsible for modifying the hydroxyl groups at positions 2 and 4 of rhamnose and propose the biosynthetic sequence of GPL trimethylrhamnose formation. The analysis of M. avium genes through the creation of specific mutants is technically difficult; therefore, an alternative approach to determine the function of putative methyltransferases of M. avium was undertaken. Complementation of M. smegmatis methyltransferase mutants with M. avium genes revealed that MtfC and MtfB of the latter species have 4-O-methyltransferase activity and that MtfD is a 3-O-methyltransferase which can modify rhamnose of GPLs in M. smegmatis.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia. Phone: 61 3 8344 5698. Fax: 61 3 9342 1540. E-mail: hbj{at}unimelb.edu.au.

Journal of Bacteriology, October 2004, p. 6792-6799, Vol. 186, No. 20
0021-9193/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.186.20.6792-6799.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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