TY - JOUR
T1 - Structure and mechanism of biosynthesis of Streptococcus mutans cell wall polysaccharide
AU - Rush, Jeffrey S.
AU - Zamakhaeva, Svetlana
AU - Murner, Nicholas R.
AU - Deng, Pan
AU - Morris, Andrew J.
AU - Kenner, Cameron W.
AU - Black, Ian
AU - Heiss, Christian
AU - Azadi, Parastoo
AU - Korotkov, Konstantin V.
AU - Widmalm, Göran
AU - Korotkova, Natalia
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025.
PY - 2025/12
Y1 - 2025/12
N2 - Streptococcus mutans, the causative agent of human dental caries, expresses a cell wall attached Serotype c-specific Carbohydrate (SCC) that is critical for cell viability. SCC consists of a polyrhamnose backbone of →3)α-Rha(1 → 2)α-Rha(1→ repeats with glucose (Glc) side-chains and glycerol phosphate (GroP) decorations. This study reveals that SCC has one predominant and two more minor Glc modifications. The predominant Glc modification, α-Glc, attached to position 2 of 3-rhamnose, is installed by SccN and SccM glycosyltransferases and is the site of the GroP addition. The minor Glc modifications are β-Glc linked to position 4 of 3-rhamnose installed by SccP and SccQ glycosyltransferases, and α-Glc attached to position 4 of 2-rhamnose installed by SccN working in tandem with an unknown enzyme. Both the major and the minor β-Glc modifications control bacterial morphology, but only the GroP and major Glc modifications are critical for biofilm formation.
AB - Streptococcus mutans, the causative agent of human dental caries, expresses a cell wall attached Serotype c-specific Carbohydrate (SCC) that is critical for cell viability. SCC consists of a polyrhamnose backbone of →3)α-Rha(1 → 2)α-Rha(1→ repeats with glucose (Glc) side-chains and glycerol phosphate (GroP) decorations. This study reveals that SCC has one predominant and two more minor Glc modifications. The predominant Glc modification, α-Glc, attached to position 2 of 3-rhamnose, is installed by SccN and SccM glycosyltransferases and is the site of the GroP addition. The minor Glc modifications are β-Glc linked to position 4 of 3-rhamnose installed by SccP and SccQ glycosyltransferases, and α-Glc attached to position 4 of 2-rhamnose installed by SccN working in tandem with an unknown enzyme. Both the major and the minor β-Glc modifications control bacterial morphology, but only the GroP and major Glc modifications are critical for biofilm formation.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41467-025-56205-1
DO - 10.1038/s41467-025-56205-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 39843487
AN - SCOPUS:85216608396
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 16
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
IS - 1
M1 - 954
ER -