Structural analysis of the lipooligosaccharide-derived oligosaccharide of Histophilus somni (Haemophilus somnus) strain 8025

Previous structural studies in our laboratory on lipooligosaccharide (LOS) inner core oligosaccharide (OS) had identified structures from several strains of Histophilus (Haemophilus) somni (738, 2336, 1P, 129Pt). Recently a type strain 8025 was proposed for this species and we therefore sought to determine the core OS structure of this H. somni strain. Core OS was isolated by standard methods from Westphal purified LOS. Structural information was established by a combination of monosaccharide and methylation analyses, NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. The following structure for the core OS was determined on the basis of the combined data from these experiments:The structure determined contains aspects of other Histophilus somni core OS structures, such as the β-Gal attached at the 2-position of Hep II (2336), PEtn only at the 6-position of Hep II (738, 129Pt) and a lactose extension from Hep I (1P). Since genetic manipulation has been achieved with this strain, the identification of the core OS structure will enable experiments designed to identify the role of glycosyltransferases involved in LOS biosynthesis.

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