A NOVEL PILIN GLYCOPROTEIN FROM A GROUP 4 PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA STRAIN

摘要

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram negative bacterium that uses polar type IV pili to adhere to and rapidly colonize surfaces. There are five distinct alleles of the structural subunit, PilA. A novel Group IV strain, Pa5196, synthesizes a pilin glycan that is a linear oligosaccharide of five to eight alpha-1, 5-linked D-arabinofuranose (D-Araf) residues, covalently O-linked to the pilin via Thr. This sugar is rare in prokaryotes, but occurs in cell walls of mycobacteria where alpha-1,5-linked D-Araf chains link mycolic acids to peptidoglycan. The Pa5196 provides a model system of the pathways for biosynthesis of D-Araf and its polymerization into mycobacterial-like α1,5 linked oligomers as well as the enzymes involved. Novel vaccine formulations and methods are provided.