PLoS ONE 2015-01-01

The Polymerization of Aeromonas hydrophila AH-3 O-Antigen LPS: Concerted Action of WecP and Wzy.

Susana Merino, Victor Gonzalez, Juan M Tomás

Index: PLoS ONE 10 , e0131905, (2015)

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Abstract

The repeat units of heteropolymeric O antigen are synthesized at the cytosolic side of the inner bacterial membrane via the Wzx/Wzy-dependent assembly pathway. After being translocated across the membrane by Wzx, each repeat unit is polymerized by Wzy to form a glycan chain. In this study, we demonstrate the need of the corresponding enzyme transferring the initial HexNAc to undecaprenol phosphate (lipid carrier), together with the corresponding O-antigen polymerase (Wzy), to produce the Aeromonas hydrophila O:34-antigen. We suggest, the concerted action of WecA or P enzyme (UDP-HexNAc: polyprenol-P HexNAc-1-P transferase) and Wzy is involved in the mechanism responsible for the A. hydrophila O-antigen polymerization.