Detection of lipoglycans in ureaplasmas.

Serotypes 3, 4, and 8 of Ureaplasma urealyticum were found to contain lipoglycans. Although the ratios of their components differed, all contained neutral sugars, fatty acids, glycerol, and phosphorus. All three became labeled when the organisms were cultivated in the presence of [14C]glucose, [14C]palmitic or [14C]oleic acids, and inorganic 32P. Only neutral sugars were found, and these consisted of mannose, glucose, and galactose. Hot phenol extracts of uninoculated and supernatant culture media contained polymeric carbohydrate, but this differed in composition from ureaplasmal lipoglycans and did not become radiolabeled. Since lipoglycans contained phosphorus but no amino sugars, they could be separated from contaminating polysaccharides by anion exchange chromatography.