Streptococcus pneumoniae harbors a significant number of transporters, including phosphotransferase (PTS) systems, allowing the bacterium to utilize a number of different carbohydrates for metabolic and other purposes. The genes encoding for one PTS transport system in particular (EII^{fuc} ) are found within a fucose utilization operon in S. pneumoniae TIGR4. Here, we report the three-dimensional structures of IIA^{fuc} and IIB^{fuc} providing evidence that this PTS system belongs to the EII^{man} family. Additionally, the predicted metabolic pathway for this distinctive fucose utilization system suggests that EII^{fuc} transports the H-disaccharide blood group antigen, which would represent a novel PTS transporter specificity. Proteins 2017; 85:963-968. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
【저자키워드】 crystal structure, Streptococcus pneumoniae, carbohydrate transport, fucose metabolism, phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase system,