Open AccessAnalysis of putative nonulosonic acid biosynthesis pathways in Archaea reveals a complex evolutionary history
Author(s) -
Kandiba Lina,
Eichler Jerry
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/1574-6968.12193
Subject(s) - archaea , biochemistry , biogenesis , biosynthesis , glycan , bacteria , biology , amino acid , sialic acid , gene , glycoprotein , genetics
Sialic acids and the other nonulosonic acid sugars, legionaminic acid and pseudaminic acid, are nine carbon‐containing sugars that can be detected as components of the glycans decorating proteins and other molecules in E ukarya and B acteria . Yet, despite the prevalence of N ‐glycosylation in A rchaea and the variety of sugars recruited for the archaeal version of this post‐translational modification, only a single report of a nonulosonic acid sugar in an archaeal N ‐linked glycan has appeared. Hence, to obtain a clearer picture of nonulosonic acid sugar biosynthesis capability in A rchaea , 122 sequenced genomes were scanned for the presence of genes involved in the biogenesis of these sugars. The results reveal that while A rchaea and B acteria share a common route of sialic acid biosynthesis, numerous archaeal nonulosonic acid sugar biosynthesis pathway components were acquired from elsewhere via various routes. Still, the limited number of A rchaea encoding components involved in the synthesis of nonulosonic acid sugars implies that such saccharides are not major components of glycans in this domain.