aN. D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
bInstitute of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Lodz, Poland
KEYWORDS: lipopolysaccharide, O-antigen, bacterial polysaccharides, structure, Proteus, lactic acid, aminoacids
Biochemistry / Moscow, 2002, v.68, pp.446-457
The classification of Proteus bacteria is based on the structure and immunospecificity of polysaccharides. Four new O-specific polysaccharides of Proteus bacteria were obtained by mild acid hydrolysis off lipopolysaccharides of the following strains: P. myxofaciens, P. vulgaris O44, P. mirabilis G1 (O3) and P. penneri 28. They were found to contain non-sugar organic acids, including lactic acid and aminoacids attached via amide bridge.
The structures were elucidated using NMR spectroscopy, including one-dimensional 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, two-dimensional 1H,1H correlation (COSY, TOCSY), H-detected 1H,13C heteronuclear multiple-quantum coherence (HMQC) and nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy (NOESY), along with chemical methods. The structural data obtained are useful as the chemical basis for the creation of the classification scheme for Proteus strains.