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Volume 147, Issue 8

, a novel gene required for the incorporation of -- -heptose into lipooligosaccharide in

The GenBank accession number for the sequence of the operon in NMB is AF036242.

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Abstract

Lipooligosaccharide (LOS) is a critical virulence factor of . A Tn insertion mutant, designated 469, was found to exhibit a markedly truncated LOS of 29 kDa when compared by Tricine/SDS-PAGE to the parental LOS (46 kDa). Electrospray mass spectrometry analysis of 469 LOS revealed that it consisted of the deep rough, heptose-deficient structure, Kdo-lipid A. Sequencing of chromosomal DNA flanking the Tn insertion in mutant 469 revealed that the transposon had inserted into an ORF predicted to encode a 187 aa protein with sequence homology to the histidinol-phosphate phosphatase domain of HisB and to a family of genes of unknown function. The gene, designated , is part of a polycistronic operon () containing two other genes, and encodes a lysophosphatidic-acid acyltransferase and is predicted to encode a -acetyltransferase. Specific polar and non-polar mutations in the parental strain, NMB, exhibited the truncated LOS structure of mutant 469, and repair of mutants by homologous recombination with the wild-type restored the LOS parental phenotype. GmhX mutants demonstrated increased sensitivity to polymyxin B. GmhX mutants and other Kdo-lipid A mutants also demonstrated increased sensitivity to killing by normal human serum but were not as sensitive as inner-core mutants containing heptose. In the genomes of and , homologues are associated with heptose biosynthesis genes; however, in , was found in a location distinct from that of , , , and . GmhX is a novel enzyme required for the incorporation of L--D--heptose into meningococcal LOS, and is a candidate for the 2-D--heptose phosphatase of the heptose biosynthesis pathway.

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
  • Revised:
  • Published Online:
Keyword(s): ABC, ATP-binding cassette , ES-MS, electrospray mass spectrometry , Hep, l-glycero-d-manno-heptose , heptose biosynthesis , Kdo, 3-deoxy-d-manno-2-octulosonic acid , lipopolysaccharides , LOS, lipooligosaccharide , meningococcus and NHS, normal human serum
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2001-08-01
2024-04-19
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gmhX, a novel gene required for the incorporation of l-glycero-d-manno-heptose into lipooligosaccharide in Neisseria meningitidisThe GenBank accession number for the sequence of the ice-2 operon in Neisseria meningitidis NMB is AF036242.
Microbiology 147, 2367 (2001); https://doi.org/10.1099/00221287-147-8-2367
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-147-8-2367
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