Identification of Genetic Determinants and Enzymes Involved with the Amidation of Glutamic Acid Residues in the Peptidoglycan of Staphylococcus aureus

The glutamic acid residues of the peptidoglycan of Staphylococcus aureus and many other bacteria become amidated by an as yet unknown mechanism. In this communication we describe the identification, in the genome of S. aureus strain COL, of two co-transcribed genes, murT and gatD, which are responsi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLoS pathogens Vol. 8; no. 1; p. e1002508
Main Authors: Figueiredo, Teresa A., Sobral, Rita G., Ludovice, Ana Madalena, de Almeida, João Manuel Feio, Bui, Nhat K., Vollmer, Waldemar, de Lencastre, Hermínia, Tomasz, Alexander
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Public Library of Science 01.01.2012
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:
Amidohydrolases - genetics
Amidohydrolases - metabolism
Amino Acid Sequence
Antibiotics
Bacterial Proteins - genetics
Bacterial Proteins - metabolism
Bacteriology
Biology
Biosynthesis
Blotting, Northern
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
Drug resistance
Enzymes
Experiments
Genes, Bacterial - genetics
Genomes
Glutamic Acid - metabolism
Gram-positive bacteria
Growth rate
Lipids
Mass Spectrometry
Microbiology
Molecular Sequence Data
Peptides
Peptidoglycan - metabolism
Plasmids
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
Staphylococcus aureus - genetics
Staphylococcus aureus - metabolism
Amidohydrolases
Glutamic Acid
Amino Acid Sequence
Genes, Bacterial
Peptidoglycan
Blotting, Northern
Mass Spectrometry
Molecular Sequence Data
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
Staphylococcus aureus
Bacterial Proteins
ISSN:1553-7374, 1553-7366, 1553-7374
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The glutamic acid residues of the peptidoglycan of Staphylococcus aureus and many other bacteria become amidated by an as yet unknown mechanism. In this communication we describe the identification, in the genome of S. aureus strain COL, of two co-transcribed genes, murT and gatD, which are responsible for peptidoglycan amidation. MurT and GatD have sequence similarity to substrate-binding domains in Mur ligases (MurT) and to the catalytic domain in CobB/CobQ-like glutamine amidotransferases (GatD). The amidation of glutamate residues in the stem peptide of S. aureus peptidoglycan takes place in a later step than the cytoplasmic phase--presumably the lipid phase--of the biosynthesis of the S. aureus cell wall precursor. Inhibition of amidation caused reduced growth rate, reduced resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics and increased sensitivity to lysozyme which inhibited culture growth and caused degradation of the peptidoglycan.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
content type line 23
Conceived and designed the experiments: RGS AML WV HdL AT. Performed the experiments: TAF RGS NKB. Analyzed the data: RGS TAF AML WV HdL AT. Bioinformatic analysis: JMFA. Wrote the paper: RGS TAF AML WV HdL AT.
ISSN:1553-7374
1553-7366
1553-7374
DOI:10.1371/journal.ppat.1002508