Elucidation of the structure of an alanine-lacking core tetrasaccharide trisphosphate from the lipopolysaccharide of Pseudomonas aeruginosa mutant H4

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa rough mutant H4 was isolated by hot water/phenol extraction followed by a modified phenol/chloroform/petroleum ether procedure. Upon SDS/PAGE, the LPS showed a strong major band corresponding to the expected rough-type LPS. Additional faint high molecular-mass bands revealed that the O-chain was present, indicating that the H4 mutant is genetically unstable. Mild acid hydrolysis of the LPS removed lipid A and released a phosphorylated core oligosaccharide that was purified by gel-permeation chromatography and high-performance anion-exchange liquid chromatography. The oligosaccharide contained two residues of L-glycero-D-manno-heptose (Hep) and one residue each of 3-deoxy-D-manno-oct-2-ulosonic acid (Kdo) and GalNAc. Upon matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectroscopy in the negative ion mode, the main fraction expressed a peak for the molecular ion [M-H](-) at m/z 1106.41, which was compatible with a carbamoylated, trisphosphorylated tetrasaccharide. The structure was further investigated using one- and two-dimensional homonuclear and heteronuclear correlated NMR spectroscopy at pD 3 and, after borohydride reduction, at pD 9. The NMR data of the two phosphorylated tetrasaccharides recorded at different pD allowed determination of the positions of the three phosphate (P) groups and the carbamoyl group (Cm) thus establishing the following structure of the core oligosaccharide: [GRAPHICS] Two unusual structural features in the core oligosaccharide of P. aeruginosa were identified for the first time, i.e. the replacement of an amide-linked alanyl group in GalN with an acetyl group and the phosphorylation at position 6 of Hep(II).