Premium
Cleavage of the O antigen 4,5,12 of Salmonella typhimurium by hydrofluoric acid
Author(s) -
Helander Ilkka M.,
Kitunen Veikko
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(89)80797-5
Subject(s) - hydrofluoric acid , salmonella , chemistry , antigen , rhamnose , cleavage (geology) , polysaccharide , bioorganic chemistry , biochemistry , aqueous solution , microbiology and biotechnology , bacteria , organic chemistry , biology , enzyme , paleontology , genetics , fracture (geology)
The effect of hydrofluoric acid (aqueous 48% HF) upon different lipopolysaccharides (LPS) was studied, employing conditions (48 h at + 4°C) that are commonly used to dephosphorylate LPS. From the LPS of Salmonella typhimurium having the O antigen 4,5,12 almost all of the O‐antigenic sugars (Abe, Gal, Glc, Man, Rha) were liberated in dialysable form, whereas the saccharide chains of Salmonella LPS with O antigen 6,7 (Man, Glc, GlcNAc) were resistant to HF. The lability towards HF was shown to be due to the presence of the deoxysugar L ‐rhamnose in the saccharide backbone of the O antigen 4,5,12, since only Rha was found as the terminal sugar in the corresponding dialysable material. Hydrofluoric acid can thus be used to specifically cleave Rha‐containing polysaccharides.