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research-article

Partial deletion of the cloned rfb gene of Escherichia coli O9 results in synthesis of a new O-antigenic lipopolysaccharide.

Department of Bacteriology, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.

ABSTRACT

The rfb gene, involved in the synthesis of the O-specific polysaccharide (a mannose homopolymer) of Escherichia coli O9 lipopolysaccharide (LPS), was cloned in E. coli K-12 strains. The O9-specific polysaccharide covalently linked to the R core of K-12 was extracted from the K-12 strains harboring the O9 rfb gene. All the other genes required for the synthesis of rfe-dependent LPS are therefore considered to be present in the K-12 strains. It was found that bacteria harboring some clones with deletions of the ca. 20-kilobase-pair (kbp) BglII-StuI fragment no longer synthesized the O9-specific polysaccharide. However, bacteria harboring clones del 21, del 22, and del 25, which carry deletions of the 10-kbp PstI-StuI fragment, synthesized an O-specific polysaccharide antigenically distinct from E. coli O9 LPS. Although this new O-specific polysaccharide consisted solely of mannose and the mannose residues were combined only through alpha-1,2 linkage, it was still composed of a repeating oligosaccharide unit, possibly a trisaccharide unit,----2)alpha Man-(1----2)alpha Man-(1----2)alpha Man-(1----. It is therefore likely that this new O-specific polysaccharide was derived from a part of the O9-specific polysaccharide----3)alpha Man-(1----3)alpha Man-(1----2)alpha Man-(1----2)alpha Man-(1----2)alpha Man-(1----and that the deleted part of the clones was responsible for the synthesis of alpha-1,3 linkages of the O9-specific polysaccharide.

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• Kido, N., Kobayashi, H. (2000). A Single Amino Acid Substitution in a Mannosyltransferase, WbdA, Converts the Escherichia coli O9 Polysaccharide into O9a: Generation of a New O-Serotype Group. J. Bacteriol. 182: 2567-2573 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
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