The structure of the phase-variable lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from the group B Neisseria meningitidis strain BZ157 galE was elucidated. The structural basis for the LPS's variation in reactivity with a monoclonal antibody (MAb) B5 that has specificity for the presence of phosphoethanolamine (PEtn) at the 3-position of the distal heptose residue (HepII) was established. The structure of the O-deacylated LPS was deduced by a combination of monosaccharide analyses, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. These analyses revealed the presence of a novel inner core oligosaccharide (OS) structure in the MAb B5 reactive (B5+) LPS that contained two PEtn residues simultaneously substituting the 3- and 6-positions of the HepII residue. The determination of this structure has identified a further degree of variability within the inner core OS of meningococcal LPS that could contribute to the interaction of meningococcal strains with their host.
Lipopolysaccharide, oligosaccharide, core, Neisseria meningitidis, Neisseria, strain, structural, analysis, core oligosaccharide, structural analysis, inner core, phosphoethanolamine, galE, localisation
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The serotype c antigen of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans consists of 6-deoxy-l-talose. A gene cluster involved in the synthesis of serotype-specific polysaccharide antigen was cloned from the chromosomal DNA of A. actinomycetemcomitans NCTC9710 (serotype c). This cluster consisted of 17 open reading frames. Escherichia coli produced the polysaccharide that reacts with the serotype c-specific antibody when transformed with a plasmid containing the cluster. Comparing the structure of the gene cluster with a similar cluster from A. actinomycetemcomitans Y4 (serotype b), which produces a polysaccharide consisting of l-rhamnose and d-fucose, revealed that a 5.7 kb region containing seven genes in the cluster from strain Y4 was replaced by a 3.8 kb region containing three genes in strain NCTC9710. The results suggest that these region, as well as dTDP-6-deoxy-l-talose-forming dTDP-4-keto-l-rhamnose reductase, is essential to the production of extracellular polysaccharide specific to serotype c.
synthesis, gene, polysaccharide, cluster, gene cluster, 6-deoxy-L-talose, Actinobacillus, Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, serotype antigen
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