Bacterial polysaccharides exhibit remarkable structural diversity and play critical roles in the biology of their producing organisms. A recent study defines the minimal machinery for polymerization in a widely disseminated assembly pathway.
References
Woodward, R. et al. Nat. Chem. Biol. 6, 418–423 (2010).
Raetz, C.R. & Whitfield, C. Annu. Rev. Biochem. 71, 635–700 (2002).
Whitfield, C. Annu. Rev. Biochem. 75, 39–68 (2006).
Wright, A., Dankert, M., Fennessey, P. & Robbins, P.W. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 57, 1798–1803 (1967).
Daniels, C., Griffiths, C., Cowles, B. & Lam, J.S. Environ. Microbiol. 4, 883–897 (2002).
Tocilj, A. et al. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 15, 130–138 (2008).
Carter, J.A. et al. Microbiology 155, 3260–3269 (2009).
Larue, K., Kimber, M.S., Ford, R. & Whitfield, C. J. Biol. Chem. 284, 7395–7403 (2009).
Robbins, P.W., Bray, D., Dankert, M. & Wright, A. Science 158, 1536–1542 (1967).
Cuthbertson, L., Mainprize, I.L., Naismith, J.H. & Whitfield, C. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 73, 155–177 (2009).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The author declares no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Whitfield, C. Glycan chain-length control. Nat Chem Biol 6, 403–404 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.376
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.376
- Springer Nature America, Inc.
This article is cited by
-
Biological Soil Crusts from Different Soil Substrates Harbor Distinct Bacterial Groups with the Potential to Produce Exopolysaccharides and Lipopolysaccharides
Microbial Ecology (2020)
-
Chemoenzymatic synthesis of the bacterial polysaccharide repeating unit undecaprenyl pyrophosphate and its analogs
Nature Protocols (2016)
-
Genome sequence of Vibrio diabolicus and identification of the exopolysaccharide HE800 biosynthesis locus
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology (2014)