Legionaminic acid was first described as part of the Legionella

lipopolysaccharide O-antigen [11], which is thought to have roles in environmental and host associations [12]. Legionaminic and pseudaminic acids are also found as post-translational modifications of flagellin, best studied in Campylobacter and Helicobacter[13, 14]. Even further, recent data suggest that in Helicobacter proteins other than flagellins may also undergo glycosylation [15]. Our recent genomic and phylogenetic analyses indicated the presence Entospletinib in vitro of NulO biosynthetic gene clusters in the available genomes of L. interrogans[16]. In this study, we sought to investigate the presence of NulO biosynthetic gene clusters in other Leptospira

species and to determine whether these genes produced functional biosynthetic pathways. Here we define the presence of putative nonulosonic acid biosynthetic gene clusters in a variety of Leptospira species. Further biochemical investigations show that some Leptospira are capable of endogenous synthesis of nonulosonic acids, including sialic acids. Results and discussion Nonulosonic acid biosynthetic gene clusters are present among pathogenic and some intermediately pathogenic Leptospira species The genome sequences of Selleckchem Evofosfamide L. interrogans serovar Copenhageni strain L1-130 and L. interrogans serovar Lai strain 55601 contain genes predicted to synthesize sialic acids or related molecules (Figure 1A). Using PCR and Southern blotting, we evaluated the presence of this gene

cluster in other isolates of Leptospira, many including pathogenic, saprophytic, and intermediate strains. Polymerase chain reactions using primers designed from the genome strains amplified genes in the pathogenic strains L. interrogans serovar Copenhageni and Lai but not in the saprophyte L. biflexa (Figure 1B). Interestingly, one of the intermediate strains, L. licerasiae, gave a negative result, while the other, L. fainei, gave a faint positive. Control reactions using primers designed from 16S rRNA gene showed amplification in all the samples, verifying DNA integrity. A probe based on the neuA2 gene of L. interrogans was used for southern blotting of genomic DNA from a number of Leptospira reference strains and isolates. These experiments confirm and extend the PCR data. Of particular interest is a pair of wild rodent isolates of Leptospira in lanes 6 and 7 (MMD4847 identifies as L. AMN-107 order licerasiae and MMD3731 identified as L. interrogans serovar Copenhageni). Whereas the intermediately pathogenic L. licerasiae strain did not give a positive result, the pathogenic serovar Copenhageni isolate gave a strong positive band. Also, the intermediate strain L. fainei gave a positive result in southern blotting, further confirming the faint positive result observed by PCR for this strain.