The structure of lipid A core region of the lipopolysaccharides (LPS) from Proteus mirabilis serotypes O6, O57 and O48 was determined using NMR, MS and chemical analysis of the oligosaccharides, obtained by mild acid hydrolysis, alkaline deacylation, and deamination of LPS:Incomplete substitutions are indicated by bold italic type. All sugars are present in pyranose form, a-Hep is the residue of l-glycero-a-d-manno-Hep, a-dd-Hep is the residue of d-glycero-a-d-manno-Hep, l-Ara4N is 4-amino-4-deoxy-l-arabinose, Qui4NAlaAla is the residue of 4-N-(l-alanyl-l-alanyl)-4-amino-4,6-dideoxyglucose. All sugars except l-Ara4N have d-configuration. b-GalA* is partially present in the form of amide with 1,4-diaminobutane (putrescine)-HN(CH 2 ) 4 NH 2 or spermidine-HN(CH 2 ) 3 NH(CH 2 ) 4 NH 2 .Keywords: LPS; Proteus; Proteus mirabilis; core.Gram-negative bacteria of the genus Proteus are important pathogens causing nosocomial and urinary tract infections [1]. Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) have been identified as an important virulence factor of P. mirabilis [2]. O-Antigens (LPS) and H-antigens (flagellar) have been extensively investigated and so far 49 different O serogroups and 19 distinct H antigens have been recognized from Proteus mirabilis and P. vulgaris [3]. The structure of the core part of Proteus LPS is variable, all strains examined until now have had unique core structures. Recently the structures of the LPS cores from P. vulgaris serotype O2, P. mirabilis serotypes O3, O27, and P. penneri strains 16, 17, 18 were determined [4±6]. Structural analysis of several other strains revealed that LPS from three serotypes of P. mirabilis, O6, O48 and O57, give the same products after alkaline deacylation, which was the reason for the presentation of their structures in one publication. The structures of the O-specific polysaccharides from strains O57 and O6 were published [7,8].
E X P E R I M E N T A L P R O C E D U R E SBacterial strains and lipopolysaccharide isolation.P. mirabilis O6 (strain 2573, NRCC 4337, ATCC 49565), O48 (strain 9615, NRCC 4420) and O57 (strain 3735, NRCC 4417, ATCC 49995) were cultivated and LPS isolated as previously described [7].NMR spectroscopy and general methods 1 H and 13 C NMR spectra were recorded using a Varian Inova 500 spectrometer in D 2 O solutions at 25 8C with acetone standard (2.225 p.p.m. for 1 H and 31.5 p.p.m. for 13 C) using standard pulse sequences gDQCOSY, TNTOCSY (mixing time 120 ms), TNNOESY, TNROESY, gHSQC, gHMBC (optimized for 5 Hz coupling constant), gHSQC-TOCSY. NOESY (mixing time 200 ms) spectra were recorded for large oligosaccharides, ROESY (mixing time 250 ms) for compounds 4±6 (compounds in bold type refer to Scheme 1 throughout). 31 P and 1 H-31 P HMQC (optimized for 7 Hz coupling constant) spectra were recorded on Varian Inova 400 spectrometer. Spectra were assigned with the help of a pronto program [9]. Electrospray