Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Newton GL
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3510479 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Sep
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Newton Gerald L GL Rawat Mamta M La Clair James J JJ Jothivasan Vishnu Karthik VK Budiarto Tanya T Hamilton Chris J CJ Claiborne Al A Helmann John D JD Fahey Robert C RC
Nature chemical biology 20090705 9
Glutathione is a nearly ubiquitous, low-molecular-mass thiol and antioxidant, but it is conspicuously absent from most Gram-positive bacteria. We identify here the structure of bacillithiol, a newly described and abundant thiol produced by Bacillus species, Staphylococcus aureus and Deinococcus radiodurans. Bacillithiol is the alpha-anomeric glycoside of L-cysteinyl-D-glucosamine with L-malic acid and most probably functions as an antioxidant. Bacillithiol, like the structurally similar mycothio ...[more]