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The presence of a fucose utilization operon in the Streptococcus pneumoniae genome and its established importance in virulence indicates a reliance of this bacterium on the harvesting of host fucose-containing glycans. The identities of these glycans, however, and how they are harvested is presently unknown. The biochemical and high resolution x-ray crystallographic analysis of two family 98 glycoside hydrolases (GH98s) from distinctive forms of the fucose utilization operon that originate from different S. pneumoniae strains reveal that one enzyme, the predominant type among pneumococcal isolates, has a unique endo-beta-galactosidase activity on the LewisY antigen. Altered active site topography in the other species of GH98 enzyme tune its endo-beta-galactosidase activity to the blood group A and B antigens. Despite their different specificities, these enzymes, and by extension all family 98 glycoside hydrolases, use an inverting catalytic mechanism. Many bacterial and viral pathogens exploit host carbohydrate antigens for adherence as a precursor to colonization or infection. However, this is the first evidence of bacterial endoglycosidase enzymes that are known to play a role in virulence and are specific for distinct host carbohydrate antigens. The strain-specific distribution of two distinct types of GH98 enzymes further suggests that S. pneumoniae strains may specialize to exploit host-specific antigens that vary from host to host, a factor that may feature in whether a strain is capable of colonizing a host or establishing an invasive infection.

The α-Gal epitope is a carbohydrate structure, Galα-3Galβ-4GlcNAc-R, expressed on glycoconjuguates in many mammals, but not in humans. Species that do not express this epitope have present in their serum large amounts of natural anti-Gal antibodies, which contribute to organ hyperacute rejection during xenotransplantation. We first describe the efficient conversion of lactose into isoglobotriaose (Galα-3Galβ-4Glc) using high cell density cultures of a genetically engineered Escherichia coli strain expressing the bovine gene for α-1,3-galactosyltransferase. Attempts to produce the Galili pentasaccharide (Galα-3Galβ-4GlcNAcβ-3Galβ-4Glc) by additionally expressing the Neisseria meningitis lgtA gene for β-1,3-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase and the Helicobacter pylori gene for β-1,4-galactosyltransferase were unsuccessful and led to the formation of a series of long chain oligosaccharides formed by the repeated addition of the trisaccharide motif [Galβ-4GlcNAcβ-3Galα-3] onto a lacto-N-neotetraose primer. The replacement of LgtA by a more specific β-1,3-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase from H. pylori, which was unable to glycosylate α-galactosides, prevented the formation of these unwanted compounds and allowed the successful formation of the Galili pentasaccharide and longer α-Gal epitopes.

International audience; The A and B antigens are of vital importance in blood transfusion and organ transplantation. The specificity of EABase, an endo-beta-galactosidase from C. perfringens, toward the cleavage of A and B trisaccharides from glycoconjugates is unique and holds significant potential for use in modifying blood group antigens on cell surfaces. The mechanism of this enzyme and others in its family (GH98) and the identities of its catalytic residues have not previously been experimentally determined. Direct 1H NMR analysis of the hydrolysis of a synthetic substrate, DNP-beta-A-trisaccharide, by EABase revealed that EABase is an inverting endo-beta-galactosidase. Both activated and nonactivated substrates were used to kinetically characterize EABase and its mutants (E354A, D429A, D453A, E467A, and E506A) at pH 6.0, 37 degrees C. Hydrolysis of DNP-beta-A-trisaccharide by EABase follows normal Michaelis-Menten kinetics with an apparent KM of 64 +/- 3 microM and a k(cat) of 105 +/- 5 min(-1). Mutation of two putative active site residues, D453 and E506, to alanine resulted in complete loss of activity, strongly suggesting that one or both of these residues functions as the base catalyst. The kinetic data also strongly suggest that E354 is the acid catalyst since the activity of the E354A mutant with nonactivated natural substrates is 1100-fold lower than that of the wild type enzyme, while its activity is only 10-fold lower when assayed with an activated aryl glycoside substrate (DNP-beta-A-trisaccharide). Further support is obtained through comparison of pH profiles for the wild type and E354A mutants: mutation of the acid catalyst eliminates the basic limb from the bell-shaped pH-dependence of k(cat)/KM seen for the wild type enzyme.

We have previously described a bacterial system for the conversion of globotriaose (Gb3) into globotetraose (Gb4) by a metabolically engineered Escherichia coli strain expressing the Haemophilus influenzae lgtD gene encoding beta1,3-N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase [Antoine, T., Bosso, C., Heyraud, A. Samain, E. (2005) Large scale in vivo synthesis of globotriose and globotetraose by high cell density culture of metabolically engineered Escherichia coli. Biochimie 87, 197-203]. Here, we found that LgtD has an additional beta1,3-galactosyltransferase activity which allows our bacterial system to be extended to the synthesis of the carbohydrate portion of globopentaosylceramide (Galbeta-3GalNAcbeta-3Galalpha-4Galbeta-4Glc) which reacts with the monoclonal antibody defining the stage-specific embryonic antigen-3. In vitro assays confirmed that LgtD had both beta1,3-GalT and beta1,3-GalNAcT activities and showed that differences in the affinity for Gb3 and Gb4 explain the specific and exclusive formation of globopentaose.