The production of 6-deoxy-L-talan from Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans via bacterial coupling in vitro.

A method of producing 6-deoxy-L-talan, the serotype c-specific polysaccharide antigen (SPA) from Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans,was established using a whole-cell reaction with two recombinant Escherichia coli strains. The production of serotype c-SPA was investigated using the dot blot assay with anti-A. actinomycetemcomitans NCTC 9710 serum after an 18-h reaction, starting with a solution containing the recombinant E. coli cells, alpha-d-glucose-1-phosphate, and dTTP. Moreover, examination of the time course for 6-deoxy-L-talan production proved that this system ran satisfactorily. This paper is the first report of a convenient method to readily produce the exopolysaccharide from A. actinomycetemcomitans in vitro.