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Highly Phosphorylated Core Oligosaccaride Structures from Cold‐Adapted Psychromonas arctica
Author(s) -
Corsaro Maria M.,
Pieretti Giuseppina,
Lindner Buko,
Lanzetta Rosa,
Parrilli Ermenegilda,
Tutino Maria L.,
Parrilli Michelangelo
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.200800117
Subject(s) - bacteria , bacterial outer membrane , chemistry , mass spectrometry , microorganism , nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy , chemical structure , benthic zone , membrane fluidity , biochemistry , membrane , biophysics , biology , chromatography , stereochemistry , ecology , organic chemistry , paleontology , escherichia coli , gene
Many cold habitats contain plenty of microorganisms that represent the most abundant cold‐adapted life forms on earth. These organisms have developed a wide range of adaptations that involve the cell wall of the microorganism. In particular, bacteria enhance the synthesis of unsaturated fatty acids of membrane lipids to maintain the membrane fluidity, but very little is known about the adaptational changes in the structure of the lipopolysaccharides (LPSs), the main constituent of the outer leaflet of the outer membrane of Gram‐negative bacteria. The aim of this study was to investigate the chemical structure of these LPSs for insight into the temperature‐adaptation mechanism. For this objective, the cold‐adapted Psychromonas arctica bacterium, which lives in the arctic sea‐water near Spitzbergen (Svalbard islands, Arctic) was cultivated at 4 °C. The lipooligosaccharides (LOSs) were isolated and analysed by means of chemical analysis and electrospray ionisation high‐resolution Fourier transform mass spectrometry. The LOS was then degraded either by mild hydrazinolysis ( O ‐deacylation) or with hot 4 M KOH ( N ‐deacylation). Both products were investigated in detail by using 1 H and 13 C NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. The core consists of a mixture of species that differ because of the presence of nonstoichiometric D ‐fructose and/or D ‐galacturonic acid units.