Disease relevance of neuD

• Nucleotide sequence and genetic analysis of the neuD and neuB genes in region 2 of the polysialic acid gene cluster of Escherichia coli K1 [1].
• A NeuD homologue, Neu(III)D, from serotype III Streptococcus agalactiae (GBS) also restored capsule expression to the neuD deletion strain [2].

High impact information on neuD

• The Group B Streptococcal Sialic Acid O-Acetyltransferase Is Encoded by neuD, a Conserved Component of Bacterial Sialic Acid Biosynthetic Gene Clusters [3].
• A bioinformatic approach identified 18 bacterial species with a Sia biosynthetic gene cluster that included neuD [3].
• Moreover, a single nucleotide polymorphism in neuD can determine whether GBS displays a "high" or "low" Sia O-acetylation phenotype [3].
• However, a minor neuO-independent O acetylation pathway was detected that is dependent on the bifunctional polypeptide encoded by neuD [4].
• Unlike strains with mutations in neuB, however, neuD mutants are not complemented by exogenous sialic acid, suggesting that NeuD is not involved in sialic acid synthesis [1].

Chemical compound and disease context of neuD

• These data confirm the role of neuD in E. coli sialic acid capsule synthesis and demonstrate that the neu(III)D homologue from GBS shares a similar enzymatic function [2].

References