Gordonan, an acidic polysaccharide with cell aggregation-inducing activity in insect BM-N4 cells, produced by Gordonia sp.

An acidic polysaccharide, termed gordonan, was isolated from the culture medium of Gordonia sp. as an inducer of cell aggregation in an insect cell line, BM-N4. Gordonan had an average molecular weight of 5 x 10(6) and its structure was identified as -->3)-4-O-(1-carboxyethyl)-beta-D-Manp-(1-->4)-beta-D-GlcAp-(1-->4)-beta-D-Glcp-(1--> mainly by acid hydrolysis experiments and NMR analysis. It induces cell aggregation at the concentration of 4 microg/ml. A partially hydrolyzed polysaccharide derived from gordonan with a molecular weight of 5 x 10(5) showed weak activity, while any fragment molecules with lower molecular weights prepared from gordonan showed no activity.