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Publication Abstract from PubMed

O-Acetylation of the capsular polysaccharide (CPS) of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A (NmA) is critical for the induction of functional immune responses, making this modification mandatory for CPS-based anti-NmA vaccines. Using comprehensive NMR studies, we demonstrate that O-acetylation stabilizes the labile anomeric phosphodiester-linkages of the NmA-CPS and occurs in position C3 and C4 of the N-acetylmannosamine units due to enzymatic transfer and non-enzymatic ester migration, respectively. To shed light on the enzymatic transfer mechanism, we solved the crystal structure of the capsule O-acetyltransferase CsaC in its apo and acceptor-bound form and of the CsaC-H228A mutant as trapped acetyl-enzyme adduct in complex with CoA. Together with the results of a comprehensive mutagenesis study, the reported structures explain the strict regioselectivity of CsaC and provide insight into the catalytic mechanism, which relies on an unexpected Gln-extension of a classical Ser-His-Asp triad, embedded in an alpha/beta-hydrolase fold.

Structural and mechanistic basis of capsule O-acetylation in Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A.,Fiebig T, Cramer JT, Bethe A, Baruch P, Curth U, Fuhring JI, Buettner FFR, Vogel U, Schubert M, Fedorov R, Muhlenhoff M Nat Commun. 2020 Sep 18;11(1):4723. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-18464-y. PMID:32948778^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.