Molecular model proposed for the polar flagellum glycosylation.

We suggest that WecX is able to link CMP-Pselike to Und-P, and several different glycosyltransferases are able to form sequentially the heptasaccharide linked to Und-P, being first the glycosyltransferases that add Hex (two of them), then the glycosyltransferases that add GalNAc or a derivate of it (three of them), and finally a putative transferase for the unknown glycan of 102 Da. Then an enzyme, that we named OTase like, transfers in O-glycosylation basis these heptasaccharide to the threonine/serine amino acids of the polar flagellin. Once the flagellins molecules are glycosylated could be transported to produce the polar flagellum. Gne is the enzyme that converts UDP-GlcNAc in UDP-GalNAc, and their lack jeopardizes the UDP-GalNAc formation.