Cloning, purification and preliminary crystallographic analysis of the Helicobacter pylori pseudaminic acid biosynthesis N-acetyltransferase PseH

Helicobacter pylori infection is the common cause of gastritis and duodenal and stomach ulcers, which have been linked to a higher risk of the development of gastric cancer. The motility that facilitates persistent infection requires functional flagella that are heavily glycosylated with 5,7-diacetamido-3,5,7,9-tetradeoxy-L-glycero-L-manno-nonulosonic acid (pseudaminic acid). Pseudaminic acid biosynthesis protein H (PseH) catalyzes the third step in its biosynthetic pathway, producing UDP-2,4-diacetamido-2,4,6-trideoxy-^β-L-altropyranose. Crystals of H. pylori PseH have been grown by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method using diammonium tartrate as a precipitating agent. The crystals belonged to space group I222 or I2₁2₁2₁, with unit-cell parameters a = 107.8, b = 145.4, c = 166.3 Å. A complete X-ray diffraction data set has been collected to 2.5 Å resolution using cryocooling conditions and synchrotron radiation.