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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Nov 1.
Published in final edited form as: Biochim Biophys Acta. 2016 Dec 9;1862(11):1424–1438. doi: 10.1016/j.bbalip.2016.11.014

Figure 1. The Raetz pathway of lipid A biosynthesis.

Figure 1

(A) Lipid A biosynthesis in E. coli consists of nine enzymes. The first six enzymes—LpxA, LpxC, LpxD, LpxH, LpxB, and LpxK—colored in pink, are essential. The substitution of the fourth enzyme LpxH in β- and γ-proteobacteria by LpxI in α-proteobacteria and LpxG in Chlamydiae is denoted in green and orange, respectively. The remaining three enzymes—KdtA, LpxL, and LpxM—colored in blue, are not essential, but are important virulence factors. (B) Timeline for the discovery and structural characterization of essential lipid A enzymes.