Sialic acid acquisition in bacteria - one substrate many transporters

TY - JOUR

T1 - Sialic acid acquisition in bacteria - one substrate many transporters

AU - Thomas, Gavin Hugh

N1 - © 2016 The Author(s). published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details

PY - 2016/6/15

Y1 - 2016/6/15

N2 - The sialic acids are a family of 9-carbon sugar acids found predominantly on the cell-surface glycans of humans and other animals within the Deuterostomes and are also used in the biology of a wide range of bacteria that often live in association with these animals. For many bacteria sialic acids are simply a convenient source of food, whereas for some pathogens they are also used in immune evasion strategies. Many bacteria that use sialic acids derive them from the environment and so are dependent on sialic acid uptake. In this mini-review I will describe the discovery and characterization of bacterial sialic acids transporters, revealing that they have evolved multiple times across multiple diverse families of transporters, including the ATP-binding cassette (ABC), tripartite ATP-independent periplasmic (TRAP), major facilitator superfamily (MFS) and sodium solute symporter (SSS) transporter families. In addition there is evidence for protein-mediated transport of sialic acids across the outer membrane of Gram negative bacteria, which can be coupled to periplasmic processing of different sialic acids to the most common form, β-D-N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac) that is most frequently taken up into the cell.

AB - The sialic acids are a family of 9-carbon sugar acids found predominantly on the cell-surface glycans of humans and other animals within the Deuterostomes and are also used in the biology of a wide range of bacteria that often live in association with these animals. For many bacteria sialic acids are simply a convenient source of food, whereas for some pathogens they are also used in immune evasion strategies. Many bacteria that use sialic acids derive them from the environment and so are dependent on sialic acid uptake. In this mini-review I will describe the discovery and characterization of bacterial sialic acids transporters, revealing that they have evolved multiple times across multiple diverse families of transporters, including the ATP-binding cassette (ABC), tripartite ATP-independent periplasmic (TRAP), major facilitator superfamily (MFS) and sodium solute symporter (SSS) transporter families. In addition there is evidence for protein-mediated transport of sialic acids across the outer membrane of Gram negative bacteria, which can be coupled to periplasmic processing of different sialic acids to the most common form, β-D-N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac) that is most frequently taken up into the cell.

KW - sialic acid

KW - TRAP transporter

KW - MFS transporter

KW - SSS transporter

KW - Escherichia coli

U2 - 10.1042/BST20160056

DO - 10.1042/BST20160056

M3 - Article

SN - 0300-5127

VL - 44

SP - 760

EP - 765

JO - Biochemical Society transactions

JF - Biochemical Society transactions

IS - 3

ER -