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Lookup NU author(s): Justina Briliūtė, Dr Elisabeth Lowe, Dr David Bolam, Dr Lucy Crouch
This is the authors' accepted manuscript of an article that has been published in its final definitive form by Springer Nature, 2019.
For re-use rights please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
Glycans are the major carbon sources available to the human colonic microbiota. Numerous N-glycosylated proteins are found in the human gut, from both dietary and host sources, including immunoglobulins such as IgA which are secreted into the intestine at high levels. Here we show that many mutualistic gut Bacteroides spp. have the capacity to utilise complex N-glycans (CNGs) as nutrients, including those from immunoglobulins. Detailed mechanistic studies using transcriptomic, biochemical, structural and genetic techniques reveal the pathway employed by B.thetaiotaomicron (Bt) for CNG degradation. The breakdown process involves an extensive enzymatic apparatus encoded by multiple non-adjacent loci and comprises 19 different carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) from different families, including a CNG specific endo-glycosidase activity. Furthermore, CNG degradation involves the activity of CAZymes that have previously been implicated in the degradation of other classes of glycan. This complex and diverse apparatus provides Bt with the capacity to access the myriad different structural variants of CNGs likely to be found in the intestinal niche.
Author(s): Briliute J, Urbanowicz PA, Luis AS, Baslé A, Paterson N, Rebello O, Hendel J, Ndeh DA, Lowe EC, Martens EC, Spencer DIR, Bolam DN, Crouch LI
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Nature Microbiology
Year: 2019
Volume: 4
Pages: 1571-1581
Print publication date: 01/09/2019
Online publication date: 03/06/2019
Acceptance date: 24/04/2019
Date deposited: 20/06/2019
ISSN (electronic): 2058-5276
Publisher: Springer Nature
URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-019-0466-x
DOI: 10.1038/s41564-019-0466-x
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