title: Structural studies on the Shigella-like Escherichia coli O121 O-specific polysaccharide.
abstract: The O-specific polysaccharide isolated from the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of Escherichia coli O121 by mild acid hydrolysis has been studied using mainly NMR spectroscopy. The polysaccharide was treated with mild base to yield a O-deacetylated polysaccharide which contained D-GlcNAc, D-GalNAcA, D-GalNAcAN (2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-galacturonamide) and D-Qui4NAcGly (where D-Qui4N is 4-amino-4,6-dideoxy-D-glucose) in equimolar proportions. The presence of the amide was confirmed by recording the 1H NMR spectrum of the O-deacetylated polysaccharide at different pH values. The O-acetyl group was located on O-3 of the GalNAcAN and the structure of the polysaccharide can be written as [sequence: see text] This structure is almost identical to that previously reported for the O-specific polysaccharide of Shigella dysenteriae type 7 LPS, the only difference being that O-acetylation is stoichiometric in the latter.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Parolis
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Parolis
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Olivieri
mesh_terms: D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; D019081:O Antigens / Q000737:chemistry*; D012762:Shigella dysenteriae / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D019081:O Antigens; C110323:O-antigen, E.coli O121