Involvement of a Phage-Encoded Wzy Protein in the Polymerization of K127 Units To Form the Capsular Polysaccharide of Acinetobacter baumannii Isolate 36-1454

Involvement of a Phage-Encoded Wzy Protein in the Polymerization of K127 Units To Form the Capsular Polysaccharide of Acinetobacter baumannii Isolate 36-1454 Full article

Journal

Microbiology spectrum
ISSN: 2165-0497

Output data

Year: 2022, Volume: 10, Number: 3, Article number : e01503-21, Pages count : DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.01503-21

Authors

Arbatsky Nikolay P. ¹ , Kasimova Anastasiya A. ¹ , Shashkov Alexander S. ¹ , Shneider Mikhail M. ^2,3 , Popova Anastasiya V. ⁴ , Shagin Dmitry A. ⁵ , Shelenkov Andrey A. ⁵ , Mikhailova Yuliya V. ⁵ , Yanushevich Yurii G. ⁵ , Hall Ruth M. ⁶ , Knirel Yuriy A. ¹ , Kenyon Johanna J. ⁷

Affiliations

1	N. D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
2	Institute of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Smolensk State Medical University, Smolensk, Russia
3	M. M. Shemyakin & Y. A. Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
4	State Research Center for Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Obolensk, Moscow, Russia
5	Central Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology, Moscow, Russia
6	School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
7	Centre for Immunology and Infection Control, School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

A comprehensive understanding of capsular polysaccharide (CPS) diversity is critical to implementation of phage therapy to treat panresistant Acinetobacter baumannii infections. Predictions from genome sequences can assist identification of the CPS type but can be complicated if genes outside the K locus (CPS biosynthesis gene cluster) are involved. Here, the CPS produced by A. baumannii clinical isolate 36-1454 carrying a novel K locus, KL127, was determined and compared to other CPSs. KL127 differs from KL128 in only two of the glycosyltransferase (gtr) genes. The K127 unit in 36-1454 CPS was the pentasaccharide β-d-Glcp-(1→6)-d-β-GalpNAc-(1→6)-α-d-Galp-(1→6)-β-d-Glсp-(1→3)-β-d-GalpNAc in which d-Glcp at position 4 replaces d-Galp in K128, and the glycosyltransferases encoded by the different gtr genes form the surrounding linkages. However, although the KL127 and KL128 gene clusters encode nearly identical Wzy polymerases, the linkages between K units that form the CPS chains are different, i.e., β-d-GalpNAc-(1→3)-d-Galp in 36-1454 (K127) and β-d-GalpNAc-(1→4)-d-Galp in KZ-1093 (K128). The linkage between K127 units in 36-1454 is the same as the K-unit linkage in five known CPS structures, and a gene encoding a Wzy protein related to the Wzy of the corresponding K loci was found encoded in a prophage genome in the 36-1454 chromosome. Closely related Wzy proteins were encoded in unrelated phage in available KL127-carrying genomes. However, a clinical isolate, KZ-1257, carrying KL127 but not the prophage was found, and K127 units in the KZ-1257 CPS were β-d-GalpNAc-(1→4)-d-Galp linked, confirming that WzyKL127 forms this linkage and thus that the phage-encoded WzyPh1 forms the β-d-GalpNAc-(1→3)-d-Galp linkage in 36-1454.

Arbatsky N.P. , Kasimova A.A. , Shashkov A.S. , Shneider M.M. , Popova A.V. , Shagin D.A. , Shelenkov A.A. , Mikhailova Y.V. , Yanushevich Y.G. , Hall R.M. , Knirel Y.A. , Kenyon J.J.
Involvement of a Phage-Encoded Wzy Protein in the Polymerization of K127 Units To Form the Capsular Polysaccharide of Acinetobacter baumannii Isolate 36-1454
Microbiology spectrum. 2022. V.10. N3. e01503-21 . DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.01503-21 WOS Scopus OpenAlex

Web of science:	WOS:000798439800002
Scopus:	2-s2.0-85133214154
OpenAlex:	W4224988145

DB	Citing
OpenAlex	15
Scopus	12
Web of science	15