# New assessment of teichoic acids in Streptococcus pneumoniae

Nguyen Mai, Christine Moriscot, Elda Bauda, Cédric Laguri, Célia Boyat, Anne Chouquet, Céline Freton, Benoît Gallet, Morgane Baudoin, Yung-Sing Wong, et al.

► To cite this version:

Nguyen Mai, Christine Moriscot, Elda Bauda, Cédric Laguri, Célia Boyat, et al. New assessment of teichoic acids in Streptococcus pneumoniae. BMSV 2025 -b Bacterial Morphogenesis Survival and Virulence 2025, Feb 2025, Le Cap (Afrique du Sud), South Africa. hal-05458239

HAL Id: hal-05458239

https://hal.science/hal-05458239v1

Submitted on 15 Jan 2026

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Distributed under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 - Attribution - International License
# New assessment of teichoic acids in *Streptococcus pneumoniae*

André Zapun

BMSV Conference Noordhoek SA

4th Feb 2025

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UGA
Université Grenoble Alpes
Teichoic acids

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τειχοζ

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Abundant in the cell wall of Gram+

Linear polymers of sugars and/or alditols

Repeating units linked by phosphodiesters

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acids
Erickson's hypothesis

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<figure><img src="image_8.png" /><figcaption>Cell surface attachment of TA in S. pneumoniae</figcaption></figure>
<figure><img src="image_9.png" /><figcaption>CEMOVIS</figcaption></figure>
Erickson's hypothesis WT

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Erickson's hypothesis

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ΔtacL

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ΔlytR
Fluorescent labelling of TA in S. pneumoniae

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choline

DBCO-fluorophore

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WTA

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click

azido-choline

pTA

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LTA

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dSTORM

TA

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pulse
10 min

WT

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chase
15 min

pulse
10 min

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ΔtacL

chase
15 min

pulse
10 min

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ΔlytR

chase
15 min

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PG

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Electrophoretic analysis of TA

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Electrophoretic analysis of TA

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Electrophoretic analysis of TA

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LTA are longer late in the culture
Titration of TA

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~10⁶ TA / cell

~15% LTA

~85% WTA
Electrophoretic analysis of TA

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Δ*lytR* almost no WTA

Δ*tacL* significant amount of “LTA”
What are the membrane bound TA in Δ*tacL* ?

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Mild acidic treatment hydrolyzes Δ*tacL* “LTA”
ColM hydrolyzes Δ*tacL* “LTA”

*Δ*tacL* “LTA” are polymerized TA precursors attached to undecaprenylP (pTA)
Conclusions

CEMOVIS data support role of TA in maintenance of periplasmic space

Metabolic and click labeling allows dSTORM imaging and electrophoretic analysis

LytR is the main phosphotransferase that attaches WTA

TacL is the glycosyl transferase that attaches LTA

Δ*tacL* accumulates pTA
Acknowledgments

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IBS

Pneumococcus Group

Mai Nguyen

Elda Bauda

Célia Boyat

Anne Chouquet

Claire Durmort

Cécile Morlot

Methods Electron Microscopy Group

Benoit Gallet

Christine Moriscot

Membrane and Pathogens Group

Cédric Laguri

M4D Platform

Jean-Philippe Kleman

Oleksandr Glushonkov

Department of Molecular Pharmaco-
Chemistry UGA/CNRS

Morgane Baudoin

Yung-Sing Wong

Molecular Microbiology and Structural
Biochemistry Lyon U/CNRS

Céline Freton

Christophe Grangeasse

Bacterial Cell Envelope and Antibiotics
Paris I2BC

Thierry Touzé

Thank you