This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Comstock, L. E.
Right arrow Articles by Kasper, D. L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Comstock, L. E.
Right arrow Articles by Kasper, D. L.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infection and Immunity, July 1999, p. 3525-3532, Vol. 67, No. 7
0019-9567/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Analysis of a Capsular Polysaccharide Biosynthesis Locus of Bacteroides fragilis

Laurie E. Comstock,1,* Michael J. Coyne,1 Arthur O. Tzianabos,1 Annalisa Pantosti,2 Andrew B. Onderdonk,1,3 and Dennis L. Kasper1,4

Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital,1 Department of Pathology,3 and Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics,4 Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, and Laboratory of Bacteriology and Medical Mycology, Istituto Superiore di Sanita, 00161 Rome, Italy2

Received 9 December 1998/Returned for modification 23 February 1999/Accepted 6 April 1999

A major clinical manifestation of infection with Bacteroides fragilis is the formation of intra-abdominal abscesses, which are induced by the capsular polysaccharides of this organism. Transposon mutagenesis was used to locate genes involved in the synthesis of capsular polysaccharides. A 24,454-bp region was sequenced and found to contain a 15,379-bp locus (designated wcf) with 16 open reading frames (ORFs) encoding products similar to those encoded by genes of other bacterial polysaccharide biosynthesis loci. Four genes encode products that are similar to enzymes involved in nucleotide sugar biosynthesis. Seven genes encode products that are similar to sugar transferases. Two gene products are similar to O-acetyltransferases, and two products are probably involved in polysaccharide transport and polymerization. The product of one ORF, WcfH, is similar to a set of deacetylases of the NodB family. Deletion mutants demonstrated that the wcf locus is necessary for the synthesis of polysaccharide B, one of the two capsular polysaccharides of B. fragilis 9343. The virulence of the polysaccharide B-deficient mutant was comparable to that of the wild type in terms of its ability to induce abscesses in a rat model of intra-abdominal infection.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Channing Laboratory, 181 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA 02115. Phone: (617) 525-2679. Fax: (617) 731-1541. E-mail: lcomstock{at}channing.harvard.edu.

Infection and Immunity, July 1999, p. 3525-3532, Vol. 67, No. 7
0019-9567/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Chatzidaki-Livanis, M., Coyne, M. J., Comstock, L. E. (2009). A Family of Transcriptional Antitermination Factors Necessary for Synthesis of the Capsular Polysaccharides of Bacteroides fragilis. J. Bacteriol. 191: 7288-7295 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Wexler, H. M., Tenorio, E., Pumbwe, L. (2009). Characteristics of Bacteroides fragilis lacking the major outer membrane protein, OmpA. Microbiology 155: 2694-2706 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Chatzidaki-Livanis, M., Coyne, M. J., Roche-Hakansson, H., Comstock, L. E. (2008). Expression of a Uniquely Regulated Extracellular Polysaccharide Confers a Large-Capsule Phenotype to Bacteroides fragilis. J. Bacteriol. 190: 1020-1026 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Mastropaolo, M. D., Evans, N. P., Byrnes, M. K., Stevens, A. M., Robertson, J. L., Melville, S. B. (2005). Synergy in Polymicrobial Infections in a Mouse Model of Type 2 Diabetes. Infect. Immun. 73: 6055-6063 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Brigham, C. J., Malamy, M. H. (2005). Characterization of the RokA and HexA Broad-Substrate-Specificity Hexokinases from Bacteroides fragilis and Their Role in Hexose and N-Acetylglucosamine Utilization. J. Bacteriol. 187: 890-901 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Patrick, S., Parkhill, J., McCoy, L. J., Lennard, N., Larkin, M. J., Collins, M., Sczaniecka, M., Blakely, G. (2003). Multiple inverted DNA repeats of Bacteroides fragilis that control polysaccharide antigenic variation are similar to the hin region inverted repeats of Salmonella typhimurium. Microbiology 149: 915-924 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Smith, A. B., Siebeling, R. J. (2003). Identification of Genetic Loci Required for Capsular Expression in Vibrio vulnificus. Infect. Immun. 71: 1091-1097 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Zhang, Y. L., Arakawa, E., Leung, K. Y. (2002). Novel Aeromonas hydrophila PPD134/91 Genes Involved in O-Antigen and Capsule Biosynthesis. Infect. Immun. 70: 2326-2335 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Wu, Y., Lee, S.-W., Hillman, J. D., Progulske-Fox, A. (2002). Identification and Testing of Porphyromonas gingivalis Virulence Genes with a pPGIVET System. Infect. Immun. 70: 928-937 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Coyne, M. J., Tzianabos, A. O., Mallory, B. C., Carey, V. J., Kasper, D. L., Comstock, L. E. (2001). Polysaccharide Biosynthesis Locus Required for Virulence of Bacteroides fragilis. Infect. Immun. 69: 4342-4350 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kalka-Moll, W. M., Wang, Y., Comstock, L. E., Gonzalez, S. E., Tzianabos, A. O., Kasper, D. L. (2001). Immunochemical and Biological Characterization of Three Capsular Polysaccharides from a Single Bacteroides fragilis Strain. Infect. Immun. 69: 2339-2344 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Coyne, M. J., Kalka-Moll, W., Tzianabos, A. O., Kasper, D. L., Comstock, L. E. (2000). Bacteroides fragilis NCTC9343 Produces at Least Three Distinct Capsular Polysaccharides: Cloning, Characterization, and Reassignment of Polysaccharide B and C Biosynthesis Loci. Infect. Immun. 68: 6176-6181 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Comstock, L. E., Pantosti, A., Kasper, D. L. (2000). Genetic Diversity of the Capsular Polysaccharide C Biosynthesis Region of Bacteroides fragilis. Infect. Immun. 68: 6182-6188 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Phillips, N. J., Miller, T. J., Engstrom, J. J., Melaugh, W., McLaughlin, R., Apicella, M. A., Gibson, B. W. (2000). Characterization of Chimeric Lipopolysaccharides from Escherichia coli Strain JM109 Transformed with Lipooligosaccharide Synthesis Genes (lsg) from Haemophilus influenzae. J. Biol. Chem. 275: 4747-4758 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Comstock, L. E., Coyne, M. J., Tzianabos, A. O., Kasper, D. L. (1999). Interstrain Variation of the Polysaccharide B Biosynthesis Locus of Bacteroides fragilis: Characterization of the Region from Strain 638R. J. Bacteriol. 181: 6192-6196 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»