A cell wall-associated polysaccharide is required for bacteriophage adsorption to the Streptococcus thermophilus cell surface
McDonnell, Brian; Hanemaaijer, Laurens; Bottacini, Francesca; Kelleher, Philip; Lavelle, Katherine; Sadovskaya, Irina; Vinogradov, Evgeny; Ver Loren van Themaat, Emiel; Kouwen, Thijs; Mahony, Jennifer; van Sinderen, Douwe
Date:
2020
Copyright:
© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: McDonnell, B, Hanemaaijer, L, Bottacini, F, et al. A cell wall‐associated polysaccharide is required for bacteriophage adsorption to the Streptococcus thermophilus cell surface. Mol Microbiol. 2020, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/mmi.14494. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
Full text restriction information:
Access to this article is restricted until 12 months after publication by request of the publisher
Restriction lift date:
2021-02-19
Citation:
McDonnell, B., Hanemaaijer, L., Bottacini, F., Kelleher, P., Lavelle, K., Sadovskaya, I., Vinogradov, E., Ver Loren van Themaat, E., Kouwen, T., Mahony, J. and van Sinderen, D. 'A cell wall-associated polysaccharide is required for bacteriophage adsorption to the Streptococcus thermophilus cell surface', Molecular Microbiology,
Abstract:
Streptococcus thermophilus strain ST64987 was exposed to a member of a recently discovered group of S. thermophilus phages (the 987 phage group), generating phage-insensitive mutants, which were then characterized phenotypically and genomically. Decreased phage adsorption was observed in selected bacteriophage-insensitive mutants, and was partnered with a sedimenting phenotype and increased cell chain length or aggregation. Whole genome sequencing of several bacteriophage-insensitive mutants identified mutations located in a gene cluster presumed to be responsible for cell wall polysaccharide production in this strain. Analysis of cell surface-associated glycans by methylation and NMR spectroscopy revealed a complex branched rhamno-polysaccharide in both ST64987 and phage-insensitive mutant BIM3. In addition, a second cell wall-associated polysaccharide of ST64987, composed of hexasaccharide branched repeating units containing galactose and glucose, was absent in the cell wall of mutant BIM3. Genetic complementation of three phage-resistant mutants was shown to restore the carbohydrate and phage resistance profiles of the wild-type strain, establishing the role of this gene cluster in cell wall polysaccharide production and phage adsorption and, thus, infection.
Show full item record
