title: Structure of the O-polysaccharide from Proteus myxofaciens. Classification of the bacterium into a new Proteus-O-serogroup.
abstract: The O-polysaccharide (O-antigen) was obtained from the lipopolysaccharide of Proteus myxofaciens, a Proteus strain producing copious amounts of slime, which was isolated from the gypsy moth larvae. The structure of the polysaccharide was studied by chemical analysis and 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, including 2D COSY, TOCSY, ROESY and H-detected 1H,13C HMQC experiments. It was found that the polysaccharide contains an amide of glucuronic acid (GlcA) with an unusual alpha-linked amino acid, Nepsilon-[(R)-1-carboxyethyl]-l-lysine (2S,8R-alaninolysine, 2S,8R-AlaLys), and has a linear tetrasaccharide repeating unit of the following structure: This structure is unique among known bacterial polysaccharide structures. On the basis of these and serological data, it is proposed that P. myxofaciens be classified into a new Proteus serogroup, O60, of which this strain is the single representative. Structural and serological relatedness of P. myxofaciens to other AlaLys-containing O-antigens of Proteus and Providencia is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Microbiology, Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Łódź, Poland. zsidor@biol.uni.lodz.pl
authors.forename: Zygmunt
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sidorczyk
authors.forename: Anna N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Kondakova
authors.forename: Krystyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zych
authors.forename: Sof'ya N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Senchenkova
authors.forename: Alexander S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Shashkov
authors.forename: Dominika
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Drzewiecka
authors.forename: Yuriy A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Knirel
mesh_terms: D000577:Amides / Q000737:chemistry; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D003429:Cross Reactions; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; D019081:O Antigens / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology; D011511:Proteus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification*; D012703:Serotyping
chemical_list: D000577:Amides; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D019081:O Antigens