Taxonomic group: bacteria / Firmicutes
(Phylum: Firmicutes)
Associated disease: infection due to Streptococcus pneumoniae [ICD11:
XN3PW 
]
NCBI PubMed ID: 12681281Journal NLM ID: 0373226Correspondence: jescott
fsl.scg.man.ac.uk
Institutions: Chemical Morphology, Manchester University Medical School, Oxford Rd, M13 9PT, Manchester, United Kingdom
Supramolecular organization involving a polyanionic glycan in a bacterial capsule (hyaluronan, HA, in streptococcal capsules) is revealed, for the first time, by electron-histochemical methodology previously used to elucidate ultrastructure in extracellular matrix. Capsular HA filaments thereby revealed closely resemble aligned linear structures demonstrated by similar technology in HA solution. These parallel arrays, spontaneously formed, are based on HA tertiary structures (beta sheet-like) which are stabilized by hydrophobic and hydrogen bonds. HA tertiary structures in aqueous solutions resist shear stress as shown by rheo-NMR. Thus, supramolecular HA wrapping covering many cells probably stabilizes chains of bacteria. Streptococci possibly templated the ordered structures since eukaryotic B6 cell HA did not produce similarly organized envelopes. Supramolecular organization in streptococcal and pneumococcal capsules are compared. Their glycans are very similar but the potential for HA- like tertiary structures is not present in the pneumococcal type 3 polysaccharide and chains of cells are not formed to the same extent by pneumococci. We suggest that the streptococcal capsule exemplifies a simple extracellular matrix analogous to those in animal connective tissues, which contain glycans (chondroitin, keratan, and dermochondan sulfates) of the HA family, capable of undergoing aggregation to similar tertiary structures
β sheets, Chondroitin-4-sulfate, Critical electrolyte concentration (CEC), Cupromeronic blue, Extracellular matrix, Pneumococcal type 3 polysaccharide
Structure type: polymer chemical repeating unit
Location inside paper: Fig.1, A
Compound class: CPS, EPS, glucan, polysaccharide
Contained glycoepitopes: IEDB_115136,IEDB_140630,IEDB_142488,IEDB_146664,IEDB_149553,IEDB_423153,IEDB_983931,SB_192
Methods: NMR
Comments, role: published polymerization frame was shifted for consistency with other records
3D data: supramolecular structure
Related record ID(s): 4702, 6062, 6396, 113677, 133144, 148371
NCBI Taxonomy refs (TaxIDs): 1313Reference(s) to other database(s): GTC:G48944PP, GlycomeDB:
25551, CCSD:
45515, CBank-STR:3690
Show glycosyltransferases
There is only one chemically distinct structure:
Found 
report error