Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40325156›Full record

ArticleCommunications biology2025

Phage-encoded enzymes found in Acinetobacter baumannii convert pseudaminic acid to 8-epipseudaminic acid.

Nowshin S Sharar, Andrea Iovine, Cristina De Castro, Ruth M Hall, Johanna J Kenyon

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Communications biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Nowshin S ShararCentre for Immunology and Infection Control, School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3651-8541
Andrea IovineDepartment of Chemical Sciences, University of Napoli Federico II Complesso Universitario Monte Santangelo, Via Cintia 4, I-80126, Naples, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0002-7039-6146
Cristina De CastroDepartment of Chemical Sciences, University of Napoli Federico II Complesso Universitario Monte Santangelo, Via Cintia 4, I-80126, Naples, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5147-1756
Ruth M HallSchool of Life and Environmental Science, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia. ruth.hall@sydney.edu.au.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2062-3312
Johanna J KenyonCentre for Immunology and Infection Control, School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. j.kenyon@griffith.edu.au.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1487-6105

Funding

Department of Education and Training | Australian Research Council (ARC) FT230100400Department of Health | National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) GNT1194978
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The nonulosonic acid 8-epipseudaminic acid was discovered only recently in two Acinetobacter baumannii strains but the genes responsible for conversion of pseudaminic acid to its 8-epimer were not found at the K locus. Here, we use a pan-genome approach to identify a pair of carbohydrate biosynthesis genes, epaA and epaB, and demonstrate using NMR analysis of the capsular polysaccharide that they encode enzymes able to convert pseudaminic acid to its 8-epimer. Via an extensive survey of available A. baumannii genomes, we show that the epaA and epaB genes are present in 17 different Caudoviricetes class prophages. The prophages are in genomes that carry different capsule biosynthesis loci from isolates recovered in several different countries. The presence of epaA and epaB genes in A. baumannii isolates that are able to produce pseudaminic acid leads to modification of capsular polysaccharides that decorate their cell surface with potential implications for capsule typing and capsule-targeting therapies.

Indexed as

Acinetobacter baumanniiBacteriophagesProphagesSugar AcidsBacterial CapsulesSugar Acids

Identifiers

PMID40325156
PMCPMC12053666

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.