Alg44, a unique protein required for alginate biosynthesis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Here the putative alginate biosynthesis gene alg44 of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was functionally assigned. Non-polar isogenic alg44 deletion mutants of P. aeruginosa were generated and did neither produce alginate nor released free uronic acids. No evidence for alginate enrichment in the periplasm was obtained. Alginate production was restored by introducing only the gene alg44. PhoA fusion protein analyses suggested that Alg44 is a soluble protein localized in the periplasm. Hexahistidine-tagged Alg44 was detected by immunoblotting. The corresponding 42.6 kDa protein was purified and identified by MALDI/TOF-MS analysis. Alg44 might be directly involved in alginate polymerization presumably by exerting a regulatory function.