Journal of Biological Chemistry
Volume 286, Issue 36, 9 September 2011, Pages 31250-31262
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Glycobiology and Extracellular Matrices
Environmental and Biofilm-dependent Changes in a Bacillus cereus Secondary Cell Wall Polysaccharide*

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Bacterial species from the Bacillus genus, including Bacillus cereus and Bacillus anthracis, synthesize secondary cell wall polymers (SCWP) covalently associated to the peptidoglycan through a phospho-diester linkage. Although such components were observed in a wide panel of B. cereus and B. anthracis strains, the effect of culture conditions or of bacterial growth state on their synthesis has never been addressed. Herein we show that B. cereus ATCC 14579 can synthesize not only one, as previously reported, but two structurally unrelated secondary cell wall polymers (SCWP) polysaccharides. The first of these SCWP, →4)[GlcNAc(β1–3)]GlcNAc(β1–6)[Glc(β1-3)][ManNAc(α1–4)]GalNAc(α1–4)ManNAc(β1→, although presenting an original sequence, fits to the already described the canonical sequence motif of SCWP. In contrast, the second polysaccharide was made up by a totally original sequence, →6)Gal(α1–2)(2-R-hydroxyglutar-5-ylamido)Fuc2NAc4N(α1-6)GlcNAc(β1→, which no equivalent has ever been identified in the Bacillus genus. In addition, we established that the syntheses of these two polysaccharides were differently regulated. The first one is constantly expressed at the surface of the bacteria, whereas the expression of the second is tightly regulated by culture conditions and growth states, planktonic, or biofilm.

Carbohydrate Biosynthesis
Carbohydrate Structure
Cell Wall
NMR
Polysaccharide
Bacillus cereus

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*

This work was supported by the Conseil Régional Nord-Pas de Calais ARCir (to Y. G.), the Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur (to Y. R.), and the Région Île de France (to T. C.). Research on the 800 and 900 MHz spectrometers was supported by the TGE RMN THC Fr3050.

The on-line version of this article (available at http://www.jbc.org) contains supplemental Figs. S1–S7.

1

Both authors equally contributed to this study.

2

Present address: Faculté de Pharmacie ParisXI sud, EA 4043-Ecosystème Microbien Digestif and Santé, Chatenay Malabry 92290, France.