STRUCTURE OF THE O-SPECIFIC POLYSACCHARIDE OF THE BACTERIUM PROTEUS PENNERI 103, CONTAINING RIBITOL AND 2-AMINOETHYL PHOSPHATES

D. Drzewiecka^a, F.V. Toukach^b, N.P. Arbatsky^b, K. Zych^a, A.S. Shashkov^b, Y.A. Knirel^b, Z. Sidorczyk^a

^aInstitute of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Lodz, Poland
^bN. D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

KEYWORDS: Proteus penneri; O-antigen; O-specific polysaccharide; lipopolysaccharide; structure; ribitol phosphate, ethanolamine phosphate

Carbohydr. Res., 2002, v.337, pp.1535-1540

DOI: 10.1016/S0008-6215(02)00265-3

The O-specific polysaccharide the lipopolysaccharide of Proteus penneri strain 103 was studied using ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy, including 2D COSY, TOCSY, NOESY, H-detected ¹H,¹³C HMQC, H-detected ¹H,³¹P HMQC and HMBC experiments. It was found that the polysaccharide is built up of oligosaccharide-ribitol phosphate repeating units and resembles thus ribitol teichoic acids of Gram-positive bacteria. The following structure of the polysaccharide was established:

                                PEtN
                                |6
-3)bDGalpNAc(1-2)Rib-ol(1-P-4)bDGlcp(1-3)bDGalp(1-

where EtN and Rib-ol are ethanolamine and ribitol, respectively. This structure is unique among the known structures of Proteus O-antigens and, therefore, it was proposed to classify the strain studied into a new Proteus serogroup, O73. The molecular basis for cross-reactivity between O-antiserum against P. penneri 103 and O-antigens of P. mirabilis O33 and D52 is discussed.

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