Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative bacterium that is ubiquitous in the environment and generally considered to be a saprophyte, but it is also an important opportunistic human pathogen. Pseudomonas aeruginosa elaborates a variety of virulence factors, one of which is lipopolysaccharide (LPS). LPS of P. aeruginosa is composed of three distinct regions: lipid A, core oligosaccharide (OS), and the long-chain O antigen. The core OS of P. aeruginosa is composed of L-glycero-D-manno-heptose, 3-deoxy-D-manno-oct-2-ulosonic acid, D-galactosamine, D-glucose, and L-rhamnose. Non-carbohydrate substituents are also found in the core OS including phosphate, 2-aminoethyl (di)phosphate, acetyl, alanyl and carbamoyl groups. Pseudomonas aeruginosa simultaneously synthesizes two core glycoforms, namely, capped and uncapped core. The capped core is covalently attached to an O antigen, whereas the uncapped core is devoid of O antigen. Although the core of P. aeruginosa LPS is relatively conserved, strain-to-strain variability of its structure exists. This includes phosphorylation pattern, the level of O-acetylation, and the presence or absence of a fourth glucose residue at the distal end of the uncapped core. A number of studies have been reported on the structures of unique truncated core OS with unusual modifications. This mini-review summarizes the diversity of P. aeruginosa complete and truncated core OS structures published over the past fifteen years.
Lipopolysaccharide, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, core oligosaccharide, Pseudomonas aeruginosas
NCBI PubMed ID: 21999536Journal NLM ID: 0376536Publisher: Nauka/Interperiodica
Correspondence: jlam@uoguelph.ca
Institutions: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
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