Separation of 6-deoxy-heptane from a smooth-type lipopolysaccharide preparation of Burkholderia pseudomallei

Smooth-type lipopolysaccharide: (LPS) of Burkholderia pseudomallei has been reported to contain has kinds of O-antigenic polysaccharides. a 1.3-linked homopolymer of h-deoxy-heptose and a polymer with a repeating unit of --> 3)-glucose-(1 --> 3)-6-deoxytalose-(1 -->, with O-acetyl or O-methyl modifi cations. A LPS preparation containing these two polysaccharides was separat ed by gel-permeation chromatography in this study. Chemical analysis of the separated fractions revealed the 6-deoxy-heptane to be a polysaccharide wi thout a lipid portion and the polymer of glucose and 6-deoxy-talose to be a n O-antigenic polysaccharide of the LPS. This result was further supported by the assay of these polysaccharide molecules for macrophage activation ac tivity. The 6-deoxy-heptane showed no macrophage activation, indicating tha t this polysaccharide was not the LPS, but one of the capsular polysacchari des of B. pseudomallei. (C) 2001 Federation of European Microbiological Soc ieties. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.