Background All microorganisms living under aerobic atmosphere have powerful mechanisms that

Background All microorganisms living under aerobic atmosphere have powerful mechanisms that confer their macromolecules protection against oxygen reactive species. periods, whereas high detection of total Dps was verified throughout the bacterial growth period. Conclusion Taken together, these results indicate that Dps undergoes post-translational modifications in the pre- and early stationary phases of bacterial growth. There is also evidence that a small mannose-containing oligosaccharide is usually linked to this bacterial protein. Background Dps was first explained in Escherichia coli and its expression is usually activated when the microorganism finds itself in nutritionally limiting conditions [1] or under oxidative stress [2]. Dps is one of the major protein components in the late stationary growth phase, and both its own stability and the stability of DNA are enhanced within DNA-Dps complexes [3]. Dps proteins form dodecamers [4] and bind DNA without any apparent sequence specificity, which results in a highly ordered, multi-layered structure that protects DNA within an energy consumption-independent process [5] physically. Dps Brequinar and homologous substances have already been discovered in related bacterias [4 distantly,6,7], recommending that this proteins plays an important function in bacterial vitality. Regardless of the limited information regarding the glycosylation sensation in prokaryotes, it really is anticipated that their glycoproteins should talk about a number of the structural top features of eukaryotic glycoproteins. Nevertheless, it really is obvious that eukaryotic and prokaryotic glycoproteins should differ with regards to the biosynthetic path. Such as eukaryotes, prokaryotic glycans are mostly O– or N-connected towards the proteins core; even so, the consensus sequences aren’t seen in most situations [8]. The buildings of the glycans are more different in prokaryotes than in eukaryotes, resembling the somatic antigen recurring sequences of some Gram-negative bacterias in a few complete situations [9,10]. In various other situations, prokaryotic glycans screen non-repetitive sequences, as regarding the surface level (S-layer) glycoprotein of Clostridium thermohydrosulfuricum [11]. They could contain uncommon sugars also, just like the one pilin within Neisseria meningitidis, where the existence of 2,4-diacetamido-2,4,6-trideoxyhexose continues to be discovered [12,13]. Many functions have already been related to Brequinar the glycans of glycoproteins in eukaryotes. In prokaryotes, nevertheless, the useful characterization of glycoproteins is certainly Brequinar unexplored still, with hardly any exclusions. Halobacterium halobium, for instance, appears to glycosylate the S-layer to be able to maintain a rod-shaped structure [14]. Interestingly, the structure of the glycans present in the S-layer of this microorganism resembles a type of collagen. Other functions attributed to the glycan moieties in prokaryotic glycoproteins include increased stability and/or maintenance of protein conformation [15], cellular signalling and adhesion [16], physiological functions [17], and improved pathogenicity [18]. Furthermore, such glycan moieties are responsible for directing biological activity [19]. The whole process of prokaryotic glycosylation is not well understood. The general consensus is that the bacterial membrane takes part IL9 antibody in this process, and that the mechanism involving the lipid carrier dolichol has been shown [8,14,20]. It has recently been discovered that Campylobacter jejuni offers an N-glycosylation system similar to that of eukaryotes, in which a group of genes named pgl is definitely apparently involved [21]. The pglB gene is responsible for the expression of a protein that is very similar to the Stt3p found in eukaryotes, which is an essential component of the oligosaccharyltransferase complex. Furthermore, mutation of the pglA gene in Neisseria meningitidis suggests that it encodes a glycosyltransferase involved in the addition of a galactose residue of the trisaccharide substituent of its pilin [22]. Since the pilin of N. meningitidis is definitely known to be glycosylated, it is possible that both pglA and galE [12] are involved in the glycosylation process. In this study, we have purified a protein corresponding to the Dps of S. enterica serovar Typhimurium by affinity chromatography using a column comprising immobilized jacalin. Jacalin is definitely a lectin from Artocarpus integrifolia that binds galactose [23] and offers high affinity for the Thomsen-Friedenreich or T-antigen disaccharide Gal1,3GalNAc [24]. In addition, jacalin binds mannose and oligomannosides [25], which makes this lectin an important tool for evaluation of protein glycosylation. So, in this work, we present evidence.