Table 1

Putative glycosyltransferases for cell-wall synthesis

M. leprae

M. tuberculosis Rv

M. bovis

M. avium

C. diphtheriae

Comments

Putative mannosyltransferases for PIM, LM and LAM biosynthesis

ML0886

Rv2188c

Y 99/99

Y 80/85

Y 50/63

Homologous to pimB (Rv0557) [39]

ML1715

Rv3032

Y100/100

Y 87/92

? 29/40

Homologous to pimB

ML0452

Rv2610c

Y100/100

Y 88/91

Y 48/62

Homologous to pimB; a candidate mannosyltransferase for PIM₁

synthesis; part of a cluster of three genes in all these organisms, the

other two being phosphatidylinositol synthase gene (pgsA) and a

putative acyltransferase [38]

ML2583

Rv0225

Y100/100

Y 86/94

Y 50/64

Homologous to pimB

Putative synthases of polyprenyl-P sugar donors for mannan and arabinan synthesis

ML2443

Rv0486

Y 100/100

Y 90/95

Y 51/69

Homologous to pimB; confers mannosamine resistance in

M. smegmatis; probably involved in LM and LAM biosynthesis [39]

ML1440

Rv2051c

Y 99/99

Y 69/76

? 39/56

Probable polyprenyl-P mannosyltransferase

ML0207

Rv3631

Y 100/100

Y 84/91

? 39/54

Putative glycosyltransferases for AG synthesis

ML0752

Rv3265c

Y 98/98

Y 83/88

Y 51/66

Probably wbbl (rhamnosyltransferase for linker-unit synthesis)

ML0113

Rv3782

Y 100/100

Y 87/91

Y 62/73

Putative ligase of lipid-linked AG to PG; part of the putative

AG-biosynthetic gene cluster [23]; also found in a similar cluster in

C. diptheriae

Putative glycosyltransferases for PGL synthesis

ML2348

Rv1524

Y 100/100

Y 65/79

?

Homologous to rhamnosyltransferase (rtfA) of M. avium [44] and

or Rv1526c

Y 100/100

Y 61/74

?

plant and microbial glucosyl or 6-deoxyglycosyl transferases;

candidate rhamnosyltransferase for PGL-I

ML0125

Rv2962c

Y 99/99

? 27/41

?

Clustered with methyltransferases (ML0127/Rv2959c); candidate

genes for glycosyltransferases in PGL-I synthesis

ML0128

Rv2958c

Y 99/99

C-terminal

?

See comments for ML0125

Putative mannosyltransferase for glycoproteins (O-linked)

ML0192

Rv1002c

Y 99/99

Y 85/91

Y 42/59

Some homology to protein mannosyltransferases in yeast

Unassigned glycosyltransferases

ML1064

Rv1208

Y 100/100

Y 81/87

Y 49/59

ML0985

Rv2739c

Y 100/100

Y 85/90

?

Similar to Pseudomonas aeruginosa rhamnosyltransferase

M. tuberculosis glycosyltransferases with no homologs in M. leprae

Rv numbers 0539, 0696, 1781c, 1500, 1513, 1514c, 1516c, 1518,1520,1525

Possibly involved in synthesis of glycans and glucans; not present in

M. leprae

Genes were identified by finding homologs for known glycosyltransferases in M. tuberculosis and M. leprae genomes. The Rv and ML numbers are as listed in the Sanger Centre databases [2,4]. Entries for the unfinished genomes of M. bovis, M. avium and C. diphtheriae are represented by 'Y' for yes, followed by % identity / % similarity at the amino-acid level, if homologous regions could be found, and '?' if no homologs were found at this stage of the sequencing. Funding sources for unfinished genome sequencing are: Beowulf Genomics (C. diphtheriae), MAFF and Beowulf Genomics (M. bovis) and NIAID (M. avium).

Vissa and Brennan Genome Biology 2001 2:reviews1023.1   doi:10.1186/gb-2001-2-8-reviews1023