A structural mechanism for bacterial autotransporter glycosylation by a dodecameric heptosyltransferase family

  1. Qing Yao
  2. Qiuhe Lu
  3. Xiaobo Wan
  4. Feng Song
  5. Yue Xu
  6. Mo Hu
  7. Alla Zamyatina
  8. Xiaoyun Liu
  9. Niu Huang
  10. Ping Zhu
  11. Feng Shao  Is a corresponding author
  1. National Institute of Biological Sciences, China
  2. Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
  3. Peking University, China
  4. University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Austria

Abstract

A large group of bacterial virulence autotransporters including AIDA-I from diffusely adhering E. coli (DAEC) and TibA from enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) require hyper-glycosylation for functioning. Here we demonstrate that TibC from ETEC harbors a heptosyltransferase activity on TibA and AIDA-I, defining a large family of bacterial autotransporter heptosyltransferases (BAHTs). Crystal structure of TibC reveals a characteristic ring-shape dodecamer. The protomer features an N-terminal β-barrel, a catalytic domain, a β-hairpin thumb and a unique iron-finger motif. The iron-finger motif contributes to back-to-back dimerization; six dimers form the ring through β-hairpin thumb-mediated hand-in-hand contact. Structure of ADP-D, D-heptose-bound TibC reveals a sugar transfer mechanism and also the ligand stereoselectivity determinant. Cryo-EM analyses uncover a TibC-TibA dodecamer/hexamer assembly with two enzyme molecules binding to one TibA substrate. The complex structure also highlights a high efficient hyperglycosylation of six autotransporter substrates simultaneously by the dodecamer enzyme complex.

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Author details

  1. Qing Yao

    National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, China
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  2. Qiuhe Lu

    National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, China
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  3. Xiaobo Wan

    National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, China
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  4. Feng Song

    Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  5. Yue Xu

    National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, China
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  6. Mo Hu

    Peking University, Bejing, China
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  7. Alla Zamyatina

    University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  8. Xiaoyun Liu

    Peking University, Bejing, China
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  9. Niu Huang

    National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, China
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  10. Ping Zhu

    Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  11. Feng Shao

    National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, China
    For correspondence
    shaofeng@nibs.ac.cn
    Competing interests
    Feng Shao, Reviewing editor, eLife.

Copyright

© 2014, Yao et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Qing Yao
  2. Qiuhe Lu
  3. Xiaobo Wan
  4. Feng Song
  5. Yue Xu
  6. Mo Hu
  7. Alla Zamyatina
  8. Xiaoyun Liu
  9. Niu Huang
  10. Ping Zhu
  11. Feng Shao
(2014)
A structural mechanism for bacterial autotransporter glycosylation by a dodecameric heptosyltransferase family
eLife 3:e03714.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.03714

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https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.03714