title: Isolation and characterisation of the biological repeating unit of cepacian, the exopolysaccharide produced by bacteria of the Burkholderia cepacia complex.
abstract: The repeating unit of cepacian, the exopolysaccharide produced by the majority of the microorganisms belonging to the Burkholderia cepacia complex, was isolated from inner bacterial membranes and investigated by mass spectrometry, with and without prior derivatisation. Interpretation of the mass spectra led to the determination of the biological repeating unit primary structure, thus disclosing the nature of the oligosaccharide produced in vivo. Moreover, mass spectra recorded on the native sample revealed that acetyl substitution was very variable, producing a mixture of repeating units containing zero to four acyl groups. At the same time, finding acetylated oligosaccharides showed that binding of these substituents occurred in the cellular periplasmic space, before the polymerisation process took place. In the chromatographic peak containing the repeating unit, oligosaccharides shorter than the repeating unit co-eluted. Mass spectrometric analysis showed that they were biosynthetic intermediates of the repeating unit and further investigation revealed the biosynthetic sequence of cepacian building block.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via L. Giorgieri 1, Bdg C11, I-34127 Trieste, Italy. pcescutti@units.it
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cescutti
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Foschiatti
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Furlanis
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lagatolla
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rizzo
mesh_terms: D016956:Burkholderia cepacia / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization
chemical_list: D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial; C487212:cepacian