The brucellae are Gram-negative bacteria that cause an important zoonosis. Studies with the main Brucella species have shown that the O-antigens of the Brucella smooth lipopolysaccharide are α-(1→2) and α-(1→3)-linked N-formyl-perosamine polysaccharides that carry M, A and C (A = M, A>M and AA) and M specificities. However, the biovar 2 O-antigen bound monoclonal antibodies to the Brucella A epitope, and to the C/Y epitope shared by brucellae and Yersinia enterocolitica O:9, a bacterium that carries an N-formyl-perosamine O-antigen in exclusively α-(1→2)-linkages. By (13)C NMR spectroscopy, B. suis biovar 1 but not B. suis biovar 2 or Y. enterocolitica O:9 polysaccharide showed the signal characteristic of α-(1→3)-linked N-formyl-perosamine, indicating that biovar 2 may altogether lack this linkage. Taken together, the NMR spectroscopy and monoclonal antibody analyses strongly suggest a role for α-(1→3)-linked N-formyl-perosamine in the C (A = M) and C (M>A) epitopes. Moreover, they indicate that B. suis biovar 2 O-antigen lacks some lipopolysaccharide epitopes previously thought to be present in all smooth brucellae, thus representing a new brucella serovar that is M-negative, C-negative. Serologically and structurally this new serovar is more similar to Y. enterocolitica O:9 than to other brucellae.
Lipopolysaccharide, O-antigen, epitope, monoclonal antibodies, typing, Brucella suis
NCBI PubMed ID: 23335981Publication DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0053941Journal NLM ID: 101285081Publisher: San Francisco, CA: Public Library of Science
Correspondence: IM
; GW
Institutions: Department of Organic Chemistry, Arrhenius Laboratory, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
Methods: 13C NMR, 1H NMR, NMR-2D, DNA sequencing, ELISA, NMR-1D
Found