Structure of the lipopolysaccharide from an Escherichia coli heptose-less mutant. I. Chemical degradations and identification of products.

The structure of lipopolysaccharide from a heptose-less mutant of Escherichia coli K-12 has been investigated. Lipopolysaccharide isolated from 32P-labeled cells was treated with mild alkali to yield two separable components: [OH-LPS]-I (approximately 70%) and [OH-LPS]-II (approximately 30%). Mild acidic treatment of [OH-LPS]-I gave mainly a product which was identified as (4-O-phosphoryl-N-beta-hydroxymyristyl-D-glucosaminyl)-beta(1 leads to 6)-N-beta-hydroxymyristyl-D-glucosamine 1-phosphate (Compound I). Further acidic hydrolysis of both [OH-LPS]-I and [OH-LPS]-II yielded as the main product (4-O-phosphoryl-N-beta-hydroxymyristyl-D-glucosaminyl)-beta(1 leads to 6)-N-beta-hydroxymyristyl-D-glucosamine (Compound II). The structures of the above products were deduced by a combination of compositional analyses, sensitivity to phosphomonoesterase, rates of hydrolysis of the phosphate groups and alkali-catalyzed beta elimination of the phosphate residues following appropriate oxidation of hydroxyl groups. These studies together with work reported in the accompanying papers have led to the identification of two species of lipopolysaccharide in the E. coli strain both of which contain a single glucosamine dissacharide unit but differ in having monosubstituted phosphate or pyrophosphate groups at the glycosidic position. Each species of lipopolysaccharide also appeared to be heterogeneous with respect to the number of esterified fatty acyl groups.