IMMUNOCHEMICAL STUDIES OF THE LIPOPOLYSACCHARIDE O-SPECIFIC POLYSACCHARIDE OF HAFNIA-ALVEI PCM-1199 RELATED TO HAFNIA-ALVEI PCM-1205

On the basis of chemical analyses and NMR spectroscopic studies, it wa s found that the O-specific polysaccharide (O-PS) isolated from the Ha fnia alvei PCM 1199 lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a glycerol teichoic-ac id-like polymer having a repeating unit of the following structure: [G RAPHICS] where Qui4NAc is 4-acetamido-4,6-dideoxyglucose and O-acetyla tion at both positions is non-stoichiometric. The glycosidic linkage o f the lateral beta-D-GlcpNAc residue is acid-labile and cleaved from t he O-PS during mild acid hydrolysis or dephosphorylation with 48 % hyd rofluoric acid, Comparative analysis revealed that the structure of th e N. alvei PCM 1199 O-PS is similar to that of H. alvei PCM 1205, whic h differs in the presence of an additional lateral alpha-D-Glcp residu e and the position of one of the O-acetyl groups only. Accordingly, se rological tests revealed a high degree of serological similarity betwe en LPSs and O-PSs of the two H. alvei strains.