Structure of the O-Specific Polysaccharide of the Bacterium Proteus mirabilis O29

A. V. Perepelov^1*, A. S. Shashkov¹, S. N. Senchenkova¹, Y. A. Knirel¹, E. Literacka^2,3, and W. Kaca^2,3

¹Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky pr. 47, Moscow, 117913 Russia; fax: (7-095) 135-5328; E-mail: knirel@ioc.ac.ru

²Center of Microbiology and Virology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lodz, Poland

³Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Lodz, Poland

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received April 2, 1999

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An O-specific polysaccharide was obtained by mild acid degradation of P. mirabilis O29 lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and found to contain 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-galactose and D-glucuronic acid (D-GlcA) in the ratio 3:1. Studies of the polysaccharide by ¹H- and ¹³C-NMR spectroscopy including two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (COSY), total correlation spectroscopy (TOCSY), nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy (NOESY), and H-detected ¹H,¹³C-heteronuclear multiple-quantum coherence (HMQC) experiments demonstrated the following structure of the branched tetrasaccharide repeating unit:

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KEY WORDS: O-antigen, lipopolysaccharide, bacterial polysaccharide, structure, Proteus mirabilis

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