title: Structure and gene cluster of the O-antigen of Escherichia coli O41.
abstract: The acidic O-polysaccharide (O-antigen) of Escherichia coli O41 was studied by sugar analysis along with 1D and 2D (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopy, and the following structure of the branched hexasaccharide repeating unit was established:  This structure is unique among the known structures of bacterial polysaccharides. The O-antigen gene cluster of E. coli O41 was sequenced. The gene functions were tentatively assigned by a comparison with sequences in the available databases and found to be in full agreement with the E. coli O41 O-polysaccharide structure.
authors.affiliation: TEDA School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Nankai University, TEDA, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Hongfei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Andrei V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Perepelov
authors.forename: Sof'ya N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Senchenkova
authors.forename: Alexander S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Shashkov
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yuriy A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Knirel
mesh_terms: D002236:Carbohydrate Conformation; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; D019081:O Antigens / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D019081:O Antigens