Alderwick Luke J, Birch Helen L, Krumbach Karin, Bott Michael, Eggeling Lothar, Besra Gurdyal S
School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
Institute for Biotechnology 1, Forschungszentrum Juelich, D-52425 Juelich, Germany.
Cell Surf. 2018 Mar;1:2-14. doi: 10.1016/j.tcsw.2017.10.001.
Arabinogalactan (AG) is an essential structural macromolecule present in the cell wall of , serving to connect peptidoglycan with the outer mycolic acid layer. The D-arabinan segment is a highly branched component of AG and is assembled in a step-wise fashion by a variety of arabinofuranosyltransferases (AraT). We have previously used as a model organism to study these complex processes which are otherwise essential in mycobacteria. In order to further our understanding of the molecular basis of AG assembly, we investigated the role of a fourth AraT, now termed AftD by generating single (Δ) and double deletion (Δ Δ) mutants of . We demonstrate that AftD functions as an α(1 → 5) AraT and reveal the point at which it exerts its activity in the AG biosynthetic pathway.
阿拉伯半乳聚糖（AG）是存在于[具体生物体]细胞壁中的一种重要结构大分子，用于将肽聚糖与外层分枝菌酸层连接起来。D - 阿拉伯聚糖片段是AG的高度分支成分，由多种阿拉伯呋喃糖基转移酶（AraT）逐步组装而成。我们之前以[具体生物体]作为模式生物来研究这些在分枝杆菌中至关重要的复杂过程。为了进一步了解AG组装的分子基础，我们通过构建[具体生物体]的单缺失（Δ）和双缺失（ΔΔ）突变体，研究了第四个AraT（现称为AftD）的作用。我们证明AftD作为一种α(1→5) AraT发挥作用，并揭示了它在AG生物合成途径中发挥活性的位点。
