Infectious Diseases Translational Research Programme, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117545, Singapore.
FEMS Microbiol Rev. 2021 Aug 17;45(4). doi: 10.1093/femsre/fuaa067.
Streptococcus pneumoniae synthesizes >100 types of capsular polysaccharides (CPSs). While the diversity of the enzymes and transporters involved is enormous, it is not limitless. In this review, we summarized the recent progress on elucidating the structure-function relationships of CPSs, the mechanisms by which they are synthesized, how their synthesis is regulated, the host immune response against them and the development of novel pneumococcal vaccines. Based on the genetic and structural information available, we generated provisional models of the CPS repeating units that remain unsolved. In addition, to facilitate cross-species comparisons and assignment of glycosyltransferases, we illustrated the biosynthetic pathways of the known CPSs in a standardized format. Studying the intricate steps of pneumococcal CPS assembly promises to provide novel insights for drug and vaccine development as well as improve our understanding of related pathways in other species.
肺炎链球菌合成超过 100 种荚膜多糖 (CPSs)。尽管参与其中的酶和转运蛋白的多样性非常巨大，但并非是无限的。在这篇综述中，我们总结了近年来在阐明 CPS 结构-功能关系、它们的合成机制、合成如何被调控、宿主对它们的免疫反应以及新型肺炎球菌疫苗的开发方面的最新进展。基于现有的遗传和结构信息，我们生成了尚未解决的 CPS 重复单元的临时模型。此外，为了便于跨物种比较和糖基转移酶的分配，我们以标准化的格式说明了已知 CPS 的生物合成途径。研究肺炎链球菌 CPS 组装的复杂步骤有望为药物和疫苗开发提供新的见解，并增进我们对其他物种中相关途径的理解。
