Experimental identification of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae strains L20 and JL03 heptosyltransferases, evidence for a new heptosyltransferase signature sequence

PLoS One. 2013;8(1):e55546. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0055546. Epub 2013 Jan 30.

Abstract

We experimentally identified the activities of six predicted heptosyltransferases in Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae genome serotype 5b strain L20 and serotype 3 strain JL03. The initial identification was based on a bioinformatic analysis of the amino acid similarity between these putative heptosyltrasferases with others of known function from enteric bacteria and Aeromonas. The putative functions of all the Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae heptosyltrasferases were determined by using surrogate LPS acceptor molecules from well-defined A. hydrophyla AH-3 and A. salmonicida A450 mutants. Our results show that heptosyltransferases APL_0981 and APJL_1001 are responsible for the transfer of the terminal outer core D-glycero-D-manno-heptose (D,D-Hep) residue although they are not currently included in the CAZY glycosyltransferase 9 family. The WahF heptosyltransferase group signature sequence [S(T/S)(GA)XXH] differs from the heptosyltransferases consensus signature sequence [D(TS)(GA)XXH], because of the substitution of D(261) for S(261), being unique.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae / enzymology*
  • Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae / genetics*
  • Amino Acid Motifs
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Computational Biology
  • Glycosyltransferases / classification
  • Glycosyltransferases / genetics*
  • Glycosyltransferases / metabolism*
  • Lipopolysaccharides / chemistry
  • Mutation
  • Phylogeny

Substances

  • Lipopolysaccharides
  • Glycosyltransferases
  • heptosyltransferase

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Plan Nacional de I+D+i grant (Ministerio de Educación, Ciencia y Deporte) and from Generalitat de Catalunya (Centre de Referència en Biotecnologia). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.