Publication Date:
2013-01-26
Description:
A major virulence factor for Yersinia pseudotuberculosis is lipopolysaccharide, including O-polysaccharide (OPS). Currently, the OPS based serotyping scheme for Y. pseudotuberculosis includes 21 known O-serotypes, with genetic and structural data available for 17 of them. The completion of the OPS structures and genetics of this species will enable the visualization of relationships between O-serotypes and allow for analysis of the evolutionary processes within the species that give rise to new serotypes. Here we present the OPS structure and gene cluster of serotype O:12, thus adding one more to the set of completed serotypes, and show that this serotype is present in both Y. pseudotuberculosis and the newly identified Y. similis species. The O:12 structure is shown to include two rare sugars: 4- C [( R )-1-hydroxyethyl]-3,6-dideoxy- d - xylo -hexose ( d -yersiniose) and 6-deoxy- l -glucopyranose ( l -quinovose). We have identified a novel putative guanine diphosphate (GDP)- l -fucose 4-epimerase gene and propose a pathway for the synthesis of GDP- l -quinovose, which extends the known GDP- l -fucose pathway.
Print ISSN:
0959-6658
Electronic ISSN:
1460-2423
Topics:
Biology
,
Medicine