Tracking Colanic Acid Repeat Unit Formation from Stepwise Biosynthesis Inactivation in .

Colanic acid is a glycopolymer loosely associated with the outer membrane of that plays a role in pathogen survival. For nearly six decades since its discovery, the functional identities of the enzymes necessary to synthesize colanic acid have yet to be assessed in full. Herein, we developed a method for detecting the lipid-linked intermediates from each step of colanic acid biosynthesis in .