The cell surface of Aneurinibacillus thermoaerophilus DSM 10155 is covered with a square surface (S)-layer glycoprotein lattice. This S-layer glycoprotein, which was extracted with aqueous buffers after a freeze-thaw cycle of the bacterial cells, is the only completely water-soluble S-layer glycoprotein to be reported to date. The purified S-layer glycoprotein preparation had an overall carbohydrate content of 19%. Detailed chemical investigations indicated that the S-layer O-glycans of previously established structure accounted for 13% of total glycosylation. The remainder could be attributed to a peptidoglycan-associated secondary cell wall polymer. Structure analysis was performed using purified secondary cell wall polymer-peptidoglycan complexes. NMR spectroscopy revealed the first biantennary secondary cell wall polymer from the domain Bacteria, with the structure α-D-GlcpNAc-(1→3)-β-D-ManpNAc-(1→4)-β-D-GalpNAc-(1→3)-α-D-GlcpNAc-(1→3)-β-D-ManpNAc-(1→4)-β-D-GalpNAc-(1→3)-α-D-GlcpNAc-(1→4)-[α-D-GlcpNAc-(1→3)-β-D-ManpNAc-(1→4)-β-D-GalpNAc-(1→3)-α-D-GlcpNAc-(1→3)-β-D-ManpNAc-(1→4)-β-D-GalpNAc-(1→3)-α-D-GlcpNAc-(1→3)]-β-D-ManpNAc-(1→3)-α-D-GlcpNAc-(1→3)-β-D-ManpNAc-(1→3)-α-D-GlcpNAc-(1→3)-α-D-GlcpNAc-(1→O)-PO(2)(-)-O-PO(2)(-)-(O→6)-MurNAc- (where MurNAc is N-acetylmuramic acid). The neutral polysaccharide is linked via a pyrophosphate bond to the C-6 atom of every fourth N-acetylmuramic acid residue, in average, of the A1γ-type peptidoglycan. In vivo, the biantennary polymer anchored the S-layer glycoprotein very effectively to the cell wall, probably due to the doubling of motifs for a proposed lectin-like binding between the polymer and the N-terminus of the S-layer protein. When the cellular support was removed during S-layer glycoprotein isolation, the co-purified polymer mediated the solubility of the S-layer glycoprotein in vitro. Initial crystallization experiments performed with the soluble S-layer glycoprotein revealed that the assembly property could be restored upon dissociation of the polymer by the addition of poly(ethylene glycols). The formed two-dimensional crystalline S-layer self-assembly products exhibited the same lattice symmetry as observed on intact bacterial cells.
NMR spectroscopy, bacteria, Structure determination, biantennary peptidoglycan-associated polymer
NCBI PubMed ID: 12201818Publication DOI: 10.1042/BJ20020988Journal NLM ID: 2984726RPublisher: London, UK : Published by Portland Press on behalf of the Biochemical Society
Correspondence: CRS@edv1.boku.ac.at
Institutions: Institut fur Chemie, Johannes-Kepler-Universitat Linz, A-4040 Linz, Austria
Methods: 13C NMR, 1H NMR, SDS-PAGE, sugar analysis, 31P NMR, ESI-TOF-MS
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