Heterogeneity of lipopolysaccharides. Analysis of polysaccharide chain lengths by sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.

Lipopolysaccharide preparations from R(rough) Escherichia coli O8-,SR(semirough) Salmonella typhimurium and S (smooth) strains E. coli O8 and Citrobacter 396 were disintegrated with sodium dodecylsulfate and subjected to polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of 1% sodium dodecylsulfate. The results obtained were compared with those obtained from the same lipopolysaccharide preparations by degradation analysis. In dodecylsulfate gel electrophoresis the lipopolysaccharide preparation from the E. coli R mutant and the S. typhimurium SR mutant showed one band each (R-and SR-band, respectively) with different electrophoretic mobilities. The lipopolysaccharide preparations from the E. coli O8-strain exhibited two bands, one of which had the same electrophoretic mobility as the R-band and the other was identified as S-band. The lipopolysaccharide preparation from the Citrobacter 396-S-strain exhibited four bands: one R-band, one SR-band and two S-bands. The results showed that wild-type S strains contain more than one type of lipopolysaccharide. They differ in the length of their O-specific polysaccharide chains. The lipid A content of the different lipopolysaccharide was expressed in their electrophoretic mobilities.