Structural analysis of the O-antigen polysaccharide from the Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O172.

The structure of the O-antigen polysaccharide from Escherichia coli O172 has been determined. In combination with sugar analysis, NMR spectroscopy shows that the polysaccharide is composed of pentasaccharide repeating units. Sequential information was obtained by mass spectrometry and two-dimensional NMR techniques. An O-acetyl group was present as 0.7 equivalent per repeating unit. Treatment of the O-deacetylated polysaccharide with aqueous 48% hydrofluoric acid rendered cleavage of the phosphodiester in the backbone of the polymer and the pentasaccharide isolated after gel permeation chromatography was structurally characterized. Subsequent NMR experiments on polymeric materials revealed the structure of the repeating unit of the O-polysaccharide from E. coli O172 as:-->P-4)-alpha-D-Glcp-(1-->3)-alpha-L-FucpNAc-(1-->3)-alpha-D- GlcpNAc-(1-->3)-alpha-L-FucpNAc-(1-->4)-alpha-D-Glcp6Ac-(1-->