XXII. BIOCHEMICKÝ ZJAZD - Jesseniova lekárska fakulta

Posters
51.
MYCOBaCTErial EPOXIDEHYDrOLaSE EPHD IS INvOLvED IN
faTTY aCID METaBOLISM
Jan Madacki 1 , Katarína Mikušová 1 , Mary Jackson 2 and Jana Korduláková 1
1
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University,
Bratislava, Slovakia; 2 Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology,
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
The cell envelope of mycobacteria is a crucial determinant of virulence and drug resistance
in mycobacteria. The major components of the mycobacterial envelope are mycolic
acids – very long branched α-alkyl-, β-hydroxy- fatty acids, which play an important role
in the integrity of the mycobacterial cell, as well as in pathogenicity of mycobacteria.
Experimental observations, accumulated during several decades allowed to draw a general
scheme for the mycolic acid biogenesis. However, many key questions regarding the
molecular basis of the biosynthetic routes leading to the mature mycolates still have to
be answered.
We investigated the function of the protein EphD in the non pathogenic strain of
Mycobacterium smegmatis. The recombinant protein was produced in E. coli and using
the generic substrate we showed that EphD displays the epoxide hydrolase activity in
vitro. Phenotypic analysis of M. smegmatis carrying the disrupted copy of ephD orthologue
revealed that this protein is involved in the fatty acid metabolism, particularly in
the biogenesis of mycolic acids.
Acknowledgement: This work was supported by Slovak Grant Agency VEGA (grant No.
1/0223/08)
XXII. Biochemistry Congress, Martin
171