Comparative phylogenetic analysis of the Pyruvyltransferase family

Abstract

Pyruvylation of sugars is a fairly common sugar modification, yet an extensive search of literature reveals little on successful isolations of the enzyme responsible for this sugar modification. Very recently a family of genes have been identified that appear to be involved in pyruvate transfer reactions in prokaryotes. Pyruvate moieties have been identified as one of the important modifications present on cell surfaces of bacteria. These can be utilized in in silico development of antibiotics that are able to target these moieties, and interfere with their biosynthesis, eventually leading to the arrested growth of the bacteria and death in some cases. For this, an in‐depth functional and structural characterization studies is required on the various members of the pyruvyltransferases. In this study we have performed phylogenetic analysis on the pyruvyltransferase family to trace its origin. We have been able to identify three subclasses, and surprisingly this modification is predominantly present in pathogenic bacteria, which can utilized developing a highly targeted antibacterial therapy. Various tools like MEGA and MESQUITE have been used for the analysis.