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A previously uncharacterized O-glycopeptidase from Akkermansia muciniphila requires the Tn-antigen for cleavage of the peptide bond

Akkermansia muciniphila is key member of the human gut microbiota that impacts many features of host health. A major characteristic of this bacterium is its interaction with host mucin, which is abundant in the gut environment, and its ability to metabolize mucin as a nutrient source. The machinery...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Medley, Brendon J., Leclaire, Leif, Thompson, Nicole, Mahoney, Keira E., Pluvinage, Benjamin, Parson, Matthew A.H., Burke, John E., Malaker, Stacy, Wakarchuk, Warren, Boraston, Alisdair B.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9513282/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36049519
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbc.2022.102439
Descripción
Sumario:Akkermansia muciniphila is key member of the human gut microbiota that impacts many features of host health. A major characteristic of this bacterium is its interaction with host mucin, which is abundant in the gut environment, and its ability to metabolize mucin as a nutrient source. The machinery deployed by A. muciniphila to enable this interaction appears to be extensive and sophisticated, yet it is incompletely defined. The uncharacterized protein AMUC_1438 is encoded by a gene that was previously shown to be upregulated when the bacterium is grown on mucin. This uncharacterized protein has features suggestive of carbohydrate-recognition and peptidase activity, which led us to hypothesize that it has a role in mucin depolymerization. Here, we provide structural and functional support for the assignment of AMUC_1438 as a unique O-glycopeptidase with mucin-degrading capacity. O-glycopeptidase enzymes recognize glycans but hydrolyze the peptide backbone and are common in host-adapted microbes that colonize or invade mucus layers. Structural, kinetic, and mutagenic analyses point to a metzincin metalloprotease catalytic motif but with an active site that specifically recognizes a GalNAc residue α-linked to serine or threonine (i.e., the Tn-antigen). The enzyme catalyzes hydrolysis of the bond immediately N-terminal to the glycosylated residue. Additional modeling analyses suggest the presence of a carbohydrate-binding module that may assist in substrate recognition. We anticipate that these results will be fundamental to a wider understanding of the O-glycopeptidase class of enzymes and how they may contribute to host adaptation.