STUCTURAL AND SEROLOGICALL RELATEDNESS OF THE O-ANTIGENS OF PROTEUS PENNERI 1 AND 4 FROM A NOVEL PROTEUS SEROGROUP O72

K. Zycha, Z. Sidorczyka, N.P. Arbatskyb, F.V. Toukachb, A.S. Shashkovb, Y.A. Knirelb

aInstitute of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Lodz, Poland
bN. D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

KEYWORDS: Proteus penneri; O-Antigen; O-specific polysaccharide; O-serogroup; lipopolysaccharide

Eur. J. Biochem., 2002, v.269, pp.358-363

DOI: 10.1046/j.0014-2956.2001.02660.x    (free full text)


O-specific polysaccharides (O-antigens) of Proteus penneri strains 1 and 4 were studied using sugar analysis, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, including two-dimensional COSY, H-detected 1H,13C heteronuclear multiple-quantum coherence (HMQC), and rotating-frame NOE spectroscopy (ROESY). The following structures of their tetrasaccharide (strain 1) and pentasaccharide (strain 4) repeating units were established:

  bDGalpNAc
     |3
-4)aDGalp(1-6)bDGlcpNAc(1-3)bDGalpNAc(1-

               aDGlcp        bDGalpNAc
                 |6            |3
-6)bDGlcp(1-3)bDGalpNAc-(1-4)aDGalp(1-

In the polysaccharide of P. penneri strain 4, glycosylation with the lateral Glc residue (75%) and O-acetylation of the lateral GalNAc residue (55%) are nonstoichiometric. This polysaccharide contains also other, minor O-acetyl groups, whose positions were not determined. The structural similarity of the O-specific polysaccharides was consistent with the close serological relatedness of the LPS, which was demonstrated by immunochemical studies with O-antisera against P. penneri 1 and 4. Based on these data, it was proposed to classify P. penneri strains 1 and 4 into a new Proteus serogroup, O72, as two subgroups, O72a and O72b, respectively. Serological cross-reactivity of P. penneri 1 O-antiserum with the LPS of P. penneri 40 and 41 was substantiated by the presence of an epitope(s) on the LPS core region shared by all P. penneri strains studied.


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