Journal of Bacteriology, February 2001, p. 942-950, Vol. 183, No. 3
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.3.942-950.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


andDepartment of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
Received 12 July 2000/Accepted 17 October 2000
Neisserial lipooligosaccharides (LOSs) are a family of complex cell
surface glycolipids. We used mass spectrometry techniques (electrospray
ionization, collision-induced dissociation, and multiple step),
combined with fluorophore-assisted carbohydrate electrophoresis
monosaccharide composition analysis, to determine the structure of the
two low-molecular-mass LOS molecules (LOSI and LOSII) expressed by
Neisseria subflava 44. We determined that LOSI contains one
glucose on both the
and
chains. LOSII is structurally related
to LOSI and differs from it by the addition of a hexose (either glucose
or galactose) on the
chain. LOSI and LOSII were able to bind
monoclonal antibody (MAb) 25-1-LC1 when analyzed by Western blotting
experiments. We used a set of genetically defined Neisseria
gonorrhoeae mutants that expressed single defined LOS epitopes
and a group of Neisseria meningitidis strains that
expresses chemically defined LOS components to determine the structures
recognized by MAb 25-1-LC1. We found that extensions onto the
-chain
glucose of LOSI block the recognition by this MAb, as does further
elongation from the LOSII
chain. The LOSI structure was determined
to be the minimum structure that is recognized by MAb 25-1-LC1.
Present address: Department of Chemistry, University of New
Hampshire. Durham, NH 03824.
Present address: Walter Reed Army Institute of Research,
Department of Bacterial Diseases, Division of Communicable Diseases and
Immunology, Silver Spring, MD 20910.
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