Structural characterization of the lipopolysaccharide O-polysaccharide antigen produced by Flavobacterium columnare ATCC 43622.

The structure of the antigenic O-chain polysaccharide of Flavobacterium columnare ATCC 43622, a Gram-negative bacterium that causes columnaris disease in warm water fish, was determined by high-field 1D and 2D NMR techniques, MS, and chemical analyses. The O-chain was shown to be an unbranched linear polymer of a trisaccharide repeating unit composed of 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-d-glucuronic acid (d-GlcNAcA), 2-acetamidino-2,6-dideoxy-l-galactose (l-FucNAm) and 2-acetamido-2,6-dideoxy-d-xylo-hexos-4-ulose (d-Sug) (1 : 1 : 1), having the structure: [structure: see text].