Structural analysis of the O-antigen side chain polysaccharides in the lipopolysaccharides of Klebsiella serotypes O2(2a), O2(2a,2b), and O2(2a,2c).

The lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of Klebsiella serotype O2 is antigenically heterogeneous; some strains express multiple antigenic factors. To study this heterogeneity, we determined the structure of the O-antigen polysaccharides in isolates belonging to serotypes O2(2a), O2(2a,2b), and O2(2a,2c), by using composition analysis, methylation analysis, and both 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The repeating unit structure of the 2a polysaccharide was identified as the disaccharide [----3)-beta-D-Galf-(1----3)-alpha-D-Galp-(1----] and was identical to D-galactan I, one of two O polysaccharides present in the LPS of Klebsiella pneumoniae serotype O1 (C. Whitfield, J. C. Richards, M. B. Perry, B. R. Clarke, and L. L. MacLean, J. Bacteriol. 173:1420-1431, 1991). LPS from serotype O2(2a,2b) also contained D-galactan I as the only O polysaccharide, suggesting that the 2b antigen is not an O antigen. The LPS of serotype O2(2a,2c) contained a mixture of two structurally distinct O polysaccharides and provides a second example of this phenomenon in Klebsiella spp. One polymer was identical to D-galactan I, and the other polysaccharide, the 2c antigen, was a polymer with a disaccharide repeating unit structure, [----3)-beta-D-GlcpNAc-(1----5)-beta-D-Galf-(1----]. The 2c structure does not resemble previously reported O polysaccharides from Klebsiella spp. Periodate oxidation confirmed that D-galactan I and the 2c polysaccharide are distinct glycans, rather than representing domains within a single polysaccharide chain. Monoclonal antibodies against the 2c antigen indicated that only LPS molecules with the longest O-polysaccharide chains contained the 2c epitope.