Faculty Collaboration Database

Characterization of the Streptococcus adjacens group antigen structure. J Bacteriol 1992 Jan;174(2):349-54

Date

01/01/1992

Pubmed ID

1309524

Pubmed Central ID

PMC205723

DOI

10.1128/jb.174.2.349-354.1992

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-0026513859 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   5 Citations

Abstract

Serological classification of bacteria requires the presence of an antigen unique to the organism of interest. Streptococci are serologically differentiated by group antigens, many of which are carbohydrates, although some are amphiphiles. This report describes the chemical characterization of the Streptococcus adjacens group antigen structure. Previous studies demonstrated that the amphiphile contained phosphorus, ribitol, galactose, galactosamine, alanine, and fatty acids. Phosphodiester bonds present in the purified group antigen were identified as part of a poly(ribitol phosphate), since ribitol phosphate was the only organic phosphate detected after acid hydrolysis. Hydrofluoric acid cleavage of the phosphodiester bonds generated oligosaccharide repeating units. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometric analysis of the methylated, acetylated oligosaccharide suggested that the repeating unit is a trisaccharide of Galp beta 1-3Galp beta 1-4GalNac with N-acetylgalactosamine attached in beta-linkage to either the number two or the number four carbon of ribitol. The lipid- and carbohydrate-substituted poly(ribitol phosphate) of the S. adjacens group antigen therefore is a unique amphiphile structure, differing in its repeating-unit structure from the polyglycerophosphate structure of the more common gram-positive amphiphile lipoteichoic acid.

Author List

Sieling PA, Thomas MJ, van de Rijn I

Author

Michael J. Thomas PhD Professor in the Pharmacology and Toxicology department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Alanine
Antigens, Bacterial
Carbohydrate Conformation
Carbon
Fatty Acids
Hydrofluoric Acid
Hydrolysis
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Methylation
Periodic Acid
Phosphorylation
Streptococcus
Structure-Activity Relationship