Model for the Controlled Synthesis of O-Antigen Repeat Units Involving the WaaL Ligase

O-antigen and core carbohydrate of Vibrio fischeri lipopolysaccharide: composition and analysis of their role in Euprymna scolopes light organ colonization.

Vibrio fischeri exists in a symbiotic relationship with the Hawaiian bobtail squid, Euprymna scolopes, where the squid provides a home for the bacteria, and the bacteria in turn provide camouflage that helps protect the squid from night-time predators. Like other gram-negative organisms, V. fischeri expresses lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on its cell surface. The structure of the O-antigen and the c...

Helicobacter pylori Lipopolysaccharide Is Synthesized via a Novel Pathway with an Evolutionary Connection to Protein N-Glycosylation

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a major component on the surface of Gram negative bacteria and is composed of lipid A-core and the O antigen polysaccharide. O polysaccharides of the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori contain Lewis antigens, mimicking glycan structures produced by human cells. The interaction of Lewis antigens with human dendritic cells induces a modulation of the immune response,...

The WaaL O-antigen lipopolysaccharide ligase has features in common with metal ion-independent inverting glycosyltransferases.

WaaL is a membrane enzyme that catalyzes a key step in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) synthesis: the glycosidic bonding of a sugar at the proximal end of the undecaprenyl-diphosphate (Und-PP) O-antigen with a terminal sugar of the lipid A-core oligosaccharide (OS). Utilizing an in vitro assay, we demonstrate here that ligation with purified Escherichia coli WaaL occurs without adenosine-5'-triphospha...

O antigen ligation in Salmonella 1 Investigation of the structural requirements in the lipopolysaccharide core acceptor for ligation of O antigens in the genus Salmonella: WaaL "ligase" is not the sole determinant of acceptor specificity*

Effects of the Bradyrhizobium japonicum waaL (rfaL) Gene on Hydrophobicity, Motility, Stress Tolerance, and Symbiotic Relationship with Soybeans

We cloned and sequenced the waaL (rfaL) gene from Bradyrhizobium japonicum, which infects soybean and forms nitrogen-fixing nodules on soybean roots. waaL has been extensively studied in the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) biosynthesis of enteric bacteria, but little is known about its function in (brady)rhizobial LPS architecture. To characterize its role as O-antigen ligase in the LPS biosynthesis p...