PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Alejandra Culebro
AU  - Michel Gilbert
AU  - Jacek Stupak
AU  - Jianju Li
AU  - Warren Wakarchuk
AU  - Mirko Rossi
TI  - Genetics behind the biosynthesis of nonulosonic acid containing lipooligosaccharides in <em>Campylobacter coli</em>
AID  - 10.1101/254235
DP  - 2018 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 254235
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/01/25/254235.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/01/25/254235.full
AB  - Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli are the most common cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in the world. Ganglioside mimicry by C. jejuni lipooligosaccharide (LOS) is the triggering factor of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), an acute polyneuropathy. Sialyltransferases from the glycosyltransferase (GT) family 42 are essential for the expression of ganglioside mimics in C. jejuni. Recently, two novel GT-42 genes, cstIV and cstV, have been identified in C. coli. Despite being present in ∼11% of currently available C. coli genomes, the biological role of cstIV and cstV is unknown. Here, we show that CstIV and CstV are involved in LOS biosynthesis. Additionally, cstV is associated with LOS sialylation, while cstIV is linked to the addition of a diacetylated nonulosonic acid residue.