Immunochemical studies of the lipopolysaccharide O-specific polysaccharide of Hafnia alvei PCM 1199 related to H. alvei PCM 1205.

On the basis of chemical analyses and NMR spectroscopic studies, it was found that the O-specific polysaccharide (O-PS) isolated from the Hafnia alvei PCM 1199 lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a glycerol teichoic-acid-like polymer having a repeating unit of the following structure: [structure in text] where Qui4NAc is 4-acetamido-4,6-dideoxyglucose and O-acetylation at both positions is non-stoichiometric. The glycosidic linkage of the lateral beta-D-GlcpNAc residue is acid-labile and cleaved from the O-PS during mild acid hydrolysis or dephosphorylation with 48% hydrofluoric acid. Comparative analysis revealed that the structure of the H. alvei PCM 1199 O-PS is similar to that of H. alvei PCM 1205, which differs in the presence of an additional lateral alpha-D-Glcp residue and the position of one of the O-acetyl groups only. Accordingly, serological tests revealed a high degree of serological similarity between LPSs and O-PSs of the two H. alvei strains.