Galactocerebroside biosynthesis pathways of Mycoplasma species: an antigen triggering Guillain–Barré–Stohl syndrome

• Main Authors: Erika Gaspari, Jasper J. Koehorst, Joachim Frey, Vitor A.P. Martins dos Santos, Maria Suarez‐Diez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2021-05-01
• Series: Microbial Biotechnology
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.13794

Summary Infection by Mycoplasma pneumoniae has been identified as a preceding factor of Guillain–Barré–Stohl syndrome. The Guillain–Barré–Stohl syndrome is triggered by an immune reaction against the major glycolipids and it has been postulated that M. pneumoniae infection triggers this syndrome due to bacterial production of galactocerebroside. Here, we present an extensive comparison of 224 genome sequences from 104 Mycoplasma species to characterize the genetic determinants of galactocerebroside biosynthesis. Hidden Markov models were used to analyse glycosil transferases, leading to identification of a functional protein domain, termed M2000535 that appears in about a third of the studied genomes. This domain appears to be associated with a potential UDP‐glucose epimerase, which converts UDP‐glucose into UDP‐galactose, a main substrate for the biosynthesis of galactocerebroside. These findings clarify the pathogenic mechanisms underlining the triggering of Guillain–Barré–Stohl syndrome by M. pneumoniae infections.