Disease relevance of undecaprenol

• The high molecular weight penicillin-binding proteins (PBP(s) ) Bacillus subtilis PBPs 1, 2, and 4 and Bacillus stearothermophilus PBPs 1-4 were shown to catalyze peptidoglycan synthesis from the undecaprenol-containing lipid intermediate substrate in two assay systems [1].
• The stress-responsive dgk gene from Streptococcus mutans encodes a putative undecaprenol kinase activity [2].
• Lipid activation of undecaprenol kinase from Lactobacillus plantarum [3].

High impact information on undecaprenol

• In a previous study of the roles of the various exo gene products in succinoglycan biosynthesis, exoP, exoQ, and exoT mutants were found to synthesize undecaprenol-linked fully modified succinoglycan octasaccharide subunits, suggesting possible roles for their gene products in polymerization or transport [4].
• The analysis of its catalytic properties clearly demonstrated that the purified BacA protein exhibited undecaprenyl pyrophosphate phosphatase activity but not undecaprenol phosphokinase activity [5].
• The polyisoprenols (PIs) dolichol and undecaprenol function as chemical carriers of glycosyl residues in the membrane-directed synthesis of glycoconjugates in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells [6].
• RfbP encodes a galactosyl transferase enzyme that catalyses the transfer of galactose to undecaprenol phosphate, the initial step in O-polysaccharide synthesis [7].
• Subsequent molecular analysis of a subset of these mutants identified genes encoding undecaprenol kinase, homoserine kinase, anaerobic ribonucleotide reductase, adenylosuccinate lyase, and a hypothetical protein [8].

Chemical compound and disease context of undecaprenol

• Extraction of membranes of Lactobacillus plantarum with Triton X-100/glycerol solubilized up to 80% of the undecaprenol kinase activity [3].

Biological context of undecaprenol

• Further analysis revealed that the product of the dgk gene in S. mutans predominantly recognizes a lipid substrate other than diacylglycerol, most likely undecaprenol, as demonstrated by its efficient phosphorylation and the resistance of the product of the reaction to saponification [2].
• C55-Dolichol: occurrence in pig liver and preparation by hydrogenation of plant undecaprenol [9].
• The bcrA and bcrB genes were organized in an operon with a third gene, bcrD, that had homology to undecaprenol kinases [10].
• Its behavior on column and thin-layer chromatography, the rates of its hydrolysis in acid and base, and the response of its synthesis to inhibitors are all identical to the other sugar-lipid intermediates which have been shown to contain sugars attached to the C55-polyisoprenol, undecaprenol, by a pyrophosphate linkage [11].
• We isolated a spontaneous suppressor mutant complementing the acid-sensitive phenotype of Streptococcus mutans strain Tn-1, a mutant previously generated in this laboratory, defective in the activity of the dgk-encoded putative undecaprenol kinase [12].

Anatomical context of undecaprenol

• One such system, LiaRS, responds to cell wall antibiotics that interfere with the undecaprenol cycle and to perturbation of the cytoplasmic membrane [13].
• The data suggest that the behaviour of undecaprenol in membranes is regulated by transmembrane electrical potential [14].

Associations of undecaprenol with other chemical compounds

• Analyses of lipid II preparations by fast atom bombardment tandem mass spectroscopy (FAB-MS/MS) resulted in the identification of the lipid-carrier as the 55-carbon polyisoprenyl alcohol, undecaprenol [15].
• The influence of undecaprenol on phosphatidylcholine macrovesicular bilayer lipid membranes has been studied by electrophysiological techniques [14].

References