Open AccessStructural studies of the O ‐antigenic polysaccharide of Fusobacterium necrophorum
Author(s) -
HERMANSSON Kerstin,
PERRY Malcolm B.,
ALTMAN Eleonora,
BRISSON JeanRobert,
GARCIA Manuel M.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
european journal of biochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1432-1033
pISSN - 0014-2956
DOI - 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1993.tb17721.x
Subject(s) - polysaccharide , chemistry , trisaccharide , fucose , teichoic acid , stereochemistry , tetrasaccharide , biochemistry , galactose , fast atom bombardment , nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy , mass spectrometry , chromatography , cell wall , peptidoglycan
The O‐specific polysaccharide component of the lipopolysaccharide produced by Fusobacterium necrophorum is of the teichoic acid type, with repeating units connected by phosphoric diester linkages. Dephosphorylation of the polysaccharide by treatment with aqueous hydrogen fluoride yielded a carbohydrate composed of a trisaccharide linked to an acidic component. This product, and the polysaccharide, were investigated by chemical methods and 1 H‐, 13 C‐, 31 P‐ and 15 N‐NMR spectroscopy and the former also by fast‐atom‐bombardment mass spectrometry. It is proposed that the polysaccharide is composed of repeating units having the following structure, in which Fuc represents fucose (6‐deoxy‐galactose), Am represents an acetamidino group and Sug 2,4‐diamino‐2,4,6‐trideoxy‐ d ‐glucose (‘bacillosamine’) acetylated at the 2‐position and acylated with a ( S )‐3‐hydroxybutanoic acid at the 4‐position. The acid was identified as a 2‐amino‐2‐deoxy‐2‐ C ‐methylpentonic acid (2‐amino‐2‐methyl‐3,4,5‐trihydroxypentanoic acid). The configuration of this acid remains to be determined.