Partial deletion of the cloned rfb gene of Escherichia coli O9 results in synthesis of a new O-antigenic lipopolysaccharide.
The rfb gene, involved in the synthesis of the O-specific polysaccharide (a mannose homopolymer) of Escherichia coli O9 lipopolysaccharide (LPS), was cloned in E. coli K-12 strains. The O9-specific polysaccharide covalently linked to the R core of K-12 was extracted from the K-12 strains harboring the O9 rfb gene. All the other genes required for the synthesis of rfe-dependent LPS are therefore considered to be present in the K-12 strains. It was found that bacteria harboring some clones with deletions of the ca. 20-kilobase-pair (kbp) BglII-StuI fragment no longer synthesized the O9-specific polysaccharide. However, bacteria harboring clones del 21, del 22, and del 25, which carry deletions of the 10-kbp PstI-StuI fragment, synthesized an O-specific polysaccharide antigenically distinct from E. coli O9 LPS. Although this new O-specific polysaccharide consisted solely of mannose and the mannose residues were combined only through alpha-1,2 linkage, it was still composed of a repeating oligosaccharide unit, possibly a trisaccharide unit,----2)alpha Man-(1----2)alpha Man-(1----2)alpha Man-(1----. It is therefore likely that this new O-specific polysaccharide was derived from a part of the O9-specific polysaccharide----3)alpha Man-(1----3)alpha Man-(1----2)alpha Man-(1----2)alpha Man-(1----2)alpha Man-(1----and that the deleted part of the clones was responsible for the synthesis of alpha-1,3 linkages of the O9-specific polysaccharide.
Kido
N
N
Department of Bacteriology, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.
Ohta
M
M
Iida
K
K
Hasegawa
T
T
Ito
H
H
Arakawa
Y
Y
Komatsu
T
T
Kato
N
N
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D003001:Cloning, Molecular / Q000379:methods; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D019081:O Antigens; D011815:R Factors; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D015183:Restriction Mapping
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D019081:O Antigens