Unknown

Dataset Information

0

Functional cloning and characterization of a UDP- glucuronic acid decarboxylase: the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans elucidates UDP-xylose synthesis.


ABSTRACT: UDP-xylose is a sugar donor required for the synthesis of diverse and important glycan structures in animals, plants, fungi, and bacteria. Xylose-containing glycans are particularly abundant in plants and in the polysaccharide capsule that is the major virulence factor of the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans. Biosynthesis of UDP-xylose is mediated by UDP-glucuronic acid decarboxylase, which converts UDP-glucuronic acid to UDP-xylose. Although this enzymatic activity was described over 40 years ago it has never been fully purified, and the gene encoding it has not been identified. We used homology to a bacterial gene, hypothesized to encode a related function, to identify a cryptococcal sequence as putatively encoding a UDP-glucuronic acid decarboxylase. A soluble 47-kDa protein derived from bacteria expressing the C. neoformans gene catalyzed conversion of UDP-glucuronic acid to UDP-xylose, as confirmed by NMR analysis. NADH, UDP, and UDP-xylose inhibit the activity. Close homologs of the cryptococcal gene, which we termed UXS1, appear in genome sequence data from organisms ranging from bacteria to humans.

SUBMITTER: Bar-Peled M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC59757 | biostudies-literature | 2001 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

altmetric image

Publications

Functional cloning and characterization of a UDP- glucuronic acid decarboxylase: the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans elucidates UDP-xylose synthesis.

Bar-Peled M M   Griffith C L CL   Doering T L TL  

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20011002 21


UDP-xylose is a sugar donor required for the synthesis of diverse and important glycan structures in animals, plants, fungi, and bacteria. Xylose-containing glycans are particularly abundant in plants and in the polysaccharide capsule that is the major virulence factor of the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans. Biosynthesis of UDP-xylose is mediated by UDP-glucuronic acid decarboxylase, which converts UDP-glucuronic acid to UDP-xylose. Although this enzymatic activity was described over 4  ...[more]

Similar Datasets

| S-EPMC1461992 | biostudies-other
| S-EPMC1133770 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC186651 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC7186387 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC7445287 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC5193108 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC1459680 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC3464208 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC1220218 | biostudies-other
| S-EPMC7375766 | biostudies-literature