The chemical compositions of the cell walls obtained from 8 strains in 5 species of Bifidobacterium were analyzed. These cell walls were shown to be composed of peptidoglycan and polysaccharide moieties. Some variations with respect to contents of neutral sugars and content of phosphorus were observed with some cell wall preparations from the same species. The neutral polysaccharides in cell walls of 4 strains ofBifidobacterium(B. bifidum YIT 4007, B.breve YTT 4010, B.infantis YIT 4025, and B.longum ATCC 15707) were purified and their chemical structures were analyzed. One of these polysaccharides, obtained fromB. breve YIT 4010, was analyzed in detail by GLC, 1H- and 13C-NMR spectroscopic analyses, methylation, Smith degradation and acetolysis, and the results suggested the following structure for the repeating unit of the polysaccharide:

• Compound ID: 1647
  

  b-D-Glcp-(1-2)-+ | -2)-a-L-Rhap-(1-3)-a-L-Rhap-(1-

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  Structure type: polymer chemical repeating unit
  Trivial name: rhamnan
  Compound class: CPS, cell wall polysaccharide
  Reference(s) to other database(s): GTC:G17683UH, GlycomeDB:16059
  
   
  
  Bifidobacterium breve YIT 4007
  CSDB ID 132364 (all data & tools)
• Compound ID: 5895
  

  a-D-Glcp-(1-6)-+ | -3)-b-D-Glcp-(1-3)-b-D-Galp-(1-4)-a-D-Galp-(1-2)-a-D-Glcp-(1-

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  Structure type: polymer chemical repeating unit
  Compound class: EPS
  Reference(s) to other database(s): GTC:G37189YS, GlycomeDB:9937
  
   
  
  Bifidobacterium breve YIT 4010
  CSDB ID 132365 (all data & tools)