title: Macromolecular properties of cepacian in water and in dimethylsulfoxide.
abstract: Cepacian is the exopolysaccharide produced by the majority of the so far investigated clinical strains of the Burkholderia cepacia complex. This is a group of nine closely related bacterial species that might cause serious lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients, in some cases leading to death. In this paper the aggregation ability and the conformational properties of cepacian chain were investigated to understand its role in biofilm formation. Viscosity and atomic force microscopy studies in water and in mixed (dimethylsulfoxide/water) solvent indicated the formation of double stranded molecular structures in aqueous solutions. Inter-residue short distances along cepacian chain were investigated by NOE NMR, which showed that two side chains of cepacian were not conformationally free due to strong interactions with the polymer backbone. These interactions were attributed to hydrogen bonding and contributed to structure rigidity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Macromolecules Chemistry, University of Trieste, Via Licio Giorgieri 1, 34127 Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: Yury
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Herasimenka
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cescutti
authors.forename: Carlos E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Sampaio Noguera
authors.forename: Josè R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Ruggiero
authors.forename: Ranieri
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Urbani
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Impallomeni
authors.forename: Flavio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zanetti
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Campidelli
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Prato
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rizzo
mesh_terms: D018441:Biofilms; D042602:Burkholderia cepacia complex / Q000737:chemistry*; D002236:Carbohydrate Conformation; D004121:Dimethyl Sulfoxide; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry*; D014783:Viscosity; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial; C487212:cepacian; D014867:Water; D004121:Dimethyl Sulfoxide