PMID:7692219
| Citation |
Klena, JD and Schnaitman, CA (1993) Function of the rfb gene cluster and the rfe gene in the synthesis of O antigen by Shigella dysenteriae 1. Mol. Microbiol. 9:393-402 |
|---|---|
| Abstract |
A plasmid that included both an 8.9 kb chromosomal DNA insert containing genes from the rfb cluster of Shigella dysenteriae 1 and a smaller insert containing the rfp gene from a S. dysenteriae 1 multicopy plasmid resulted in efficient expression of O antigen in an rfb-deleted strain of Escherichia coli K-12. Eight genes were identified in the rfb fragment: the rfbB-CAD cluster which encodes dTDP-rhamnose synthesis, rfbX which encodes a hydrophobic protein involved in assembly of the O antigen, rfc which encodes the O antigen polymerase, and two sugar transferase genes. The production of an O antigen also required the E. coli K-12 rfe gene, which is known to encode a transferase which adds N-acetylglucosamine phosphate to the carrier lipid undecaprenol phosphate. Thus Rfe protein appears to function as an analogue of the Salmonella RfbP protein to provide the first sugar of the O unit. Functional analysis of the other genes was facilitated by the fact that partial O units of one, two or three sugars were efficiently transferred to the lipopolysaccharide core. This analysis indicated that the plasmid-encoded Rfp protein is the transferase that adds the second sugar of the O unit while the two rfb transferases add the distal sugars to make an O antigen whose structure is (Rha-Rha-Gal-GlcNAc)n. The use of the rfe gene product as the transferase that adds the first sugar of an O unit is a novel mechanism which may be used for the synthesis of other enteric O antigens. |
| Links | |
| Keywords |
Carbohydrate Metabolism; Carbohydrate Sequence; Escherichia coli Proteins; Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; Genes, Bacterial; Glycosylation; Molecular Sequence Data; Multigene Family; O Antigens; Phenotype; Phylogeny; Plasmids; Polymorphism, Genetic; Polysaccharides, Bacterial/biosynthesis; Salmonella typhimurium/genetics; Salmonella typhimurium/metabolism; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Shigella dysenteriae/genetics; Shigella dysenteriae/immunology; Shigella dysenteriae/metabolism; Species Specificity; Transferases (Other Substituted Phosphate Groups)/genetics; Transferases (Other Substituted Phosphate Groups)/metabolism |
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