title: Structure determination of Streptococcus suis serotype 2 capsular polysaccharide.
abstract: The capsular polysaccharide (CPS) of Streptococcus suis serotype 2 was isolated, purified, chemically modified, and characterized. Sugar and absolute configuration analyses of the CPS gave the following composition: D-Gal, 3; D-Glc, 1; D-GlcNAc, 1; D-Neu5Ac, 1; L-Rha, 1. Sialic acid was found to be terminal, and the CPS was quantitatively desialylated by mild acid hydrolysis. The CPS was also submitted to periodate oxidation followed by borohydride reduction and Smith degradation. Sugar and methylation analysis, 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance, and mass spectrometry of the native CPS or of its specifically modified products allowed to determine the repeating unit sequence: [4)[Neu5Ac(alpha2-6)Gal(beta1-4)GlcNAc(beta1-3)]Gal(beta1-4)[Gal(alpha1-3)]Rha(beta1-4)Glc(beta1-]n. The backbone sequence was found to be identical to that of Streptococcus agalactiae or group B Streptococcus (GBS) type VIII and Streptococcus pneumoniae type 23F. The S. suis CPS shares the sequence Neu5Ac-Gal-GlcNAc-Gal in common with GBS types Ia, Ib, II, III, and IV CPSs but differs from them by the presence of rhamnose and the fact that sialic acid is 2,6- rather than 2,3-linked to the following Gal. A correlation between the S. suis CPS sequence and genes of the serotype 2 cps locus encoding putative enzymes responsible for the biosynthesis of the repeating unit was tentatively established.
authors.affiliation: Centre de recherche et de développement sur les aliments, Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada, Saint-Hyacinthe, QC J2S 8E3, Canada. marie-rose.vancalsteren@agr.gc.ca
authors.forename: Marie-Rose
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Van Calsteren
authors.forename: Fleur
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gagnon
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lacouture
authors.forename: Nahuel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fittipaldi
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gottschalk
mesh_terms: D016667:Bacterial Capsules / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015394:Molecular Structure; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular / Q000379:methods; D017011:Streptococcus suis / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: C028096:capsular polysaccharide, Streptococcus suis type 2