Determination of strain-specific wall teichoic acid structures in Lactobacillus plantarum reveals diverse α-D-glucosyl substitutions and high structural uniformity of the repeating units.
The structural diversity of wall teichoic acid (WTA) was investigated using biochemical and NMR analyses among 19 strains of Lactobacillus plantarum, of which seven were previously established to contain a glycerol-type backbone, whereas the remaining 12 strains possess ribitol-containing WTA. Despite the fact that the WTAs consisted of identical components, namely phosphoric acid, alditol (glycerol or ribitol) and glucose, comparative analysis of the (1)H and (13)C NMR spectra indicated the presence of six different structures, based on the observed differences in the anomeric signals of glucose residues. To determine the six WTA structures, their repeating units were prepared by alkaline hydrolysis, followed by fractionation on HPLC, and analysis by NMR spectroscopy using synthetic molecules as a reference. The structures of the six isolates were established as 1-α-D-glucosyl-sn-glycerol 3-phosphate, 1-α-D-kojibiosyl-sn-glycerol 3-phosphate, 1-α-D-nigerosyl-sn-glycerol 3-phosphate, 4-α-D-kojibiosylribitol 1-phosphate and 1,5-linked di-(2,4-di-α-D-glucosylribitol) phosphate. The backbone structures appeared to be 3,6'-linked poly(1-α-D-glucosyl-sn-glycerol phosphate) for the glycerol-type WTA and 1,5-linked poly(ribitol phosphate) for the ribitol-containing WTA. Moreover, in the analysis of the alkaline hydrolysates on HPLC, only single structures of repeating units were released from each WTA, indicating the high structural uniformity of the WTA in each strain. Notably, analyses of lipoteichoic acid isolated from representative strains harbouring the six different WTAs revealed the universal presence of a 1,3-linked poly(glycerol phosphate) chain, substituted at C-2 of the glycerol residues with glucose residues. These findings provide fundamental information on WTA structural variability in Lb. plantarum, which seems likely to play a pivotal role in the physiology of this bacterial species.
Department of Applied Biology and Chemistry, Faculty of Applied Bio-Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Japan.
Satoru
S
Tomita
Division of Agriculture and Agricultural Life Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan.
Kazuo
K
Furihata
Department of Fermentation Science, Faculty of Applied Bio-Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Japan.
Naoto
N
Tanaka
Department of Applied Biology and Chemistry, Faculty of Applied Bio-Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Japan.
Eiichi
E
Satoh
Department of Fermentation Science, Faculty of Applied Bio-Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Japan.
Tomoo
T
Nukada
Department of Applied Biology and Chemistry, Faculty of Applied Bio-Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Japan.
Sanae
S
Okada
D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D005947:Glucose / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D048191:Lactiplantibacillus plantarum / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015394:Molecular Structure; D012255:Ribitol / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D013045:Species Specificity; D013682:Teichoic Acids / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism
D013682:Teichoic Acids; D012255:Ribitol; D005947:Glucose