Alanylated lipoteichoic acid primer in Bacillus subtilis

Lipoteichoic acid is a major lipid-anchored polymer in Gram-positive bacteria such as Bacillus subtilis. This polymer typically consists of repeating phosphate-containing units and therefore has a predominant negative charge. The repeating units are attached to a glycolipid anchor which has a diacylglycerol (DAG) moiety attached to a dihexopyranose head group. D-alanylation is known as the major modification of type I and type IV lipoteichoic acids, which partially neutralizes the polymer and plays important roles in bacterial survival and resistance to the host immune system. The biosynthesis pathways of the glycolipid anchor and lipoteichoic acid have been fully characterized. However, the exact mechanism of D-alanyl transfer from the cytosol to cell surface lipoteichoic acid remains unclear. Here I report the use of mass spectrometry in the identification of possible intermediate species in the biosynthesis and D-alanylation of lipoteichoic acid: the glycolipid anchor, nascent lipoteichoic acid primer with one phosphoglycerol unit, as well as mono- and di-alanylated forms of the lipoteichoic acid primer. Monitoring these species as well as the recently reported D-alanyl-phosphatidyl glycerol should aid in shedding light on the mechanism of the D-alanylation pathway of lipoteichoic acid.