Identification of apolipoprotein n-acyltransferase (LNT) in mycobacteria

Abstract

Lipoproteins of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria carry a thioether bound diacylglyceryl but differ by a fatty acid amide-bound to the alpha-amino group of the universally conserved cysteine. In Escherichia coli the N-terminal acylation is catalyzed by the N-acyltransferase Lnt. Using E. coli Lnt as a query in a BLASTp search, we identified putative lnt genes also in Gram-positive mycobacteria. The Mycobacterium tuberculosis lipoprotein LppX, heterologously expressed in Mycobacterium smegmatis, was N-acylated at the N-terminal Show more