Characterization of a lipopolysaccharide O antigen containing two different trisaccharide repeating units from Burkholderia cepacia serotype E (O2).

The O antigen of the lipopolysaccharide of Burkholderia cepacia serotype E (O2) was shown by a combination of methylation analysis, partial hydrolysis, NMR, and mass spectrometric methods to be a high molecular weight polysaccharide composed of two different trisaccharide repeating units in the ratio 2:1. The major trisaccharide component is composed of two alpha-D-mannopyranosyl and one beta-D-galactopyranosyl residues with the structure, [-->2)-alpha-D-Man p-(1-->2)-alpha-D-Man p-(1-->4)-beta-D-Gal p-(1-->]n The minor trisaccharide component is a D-mannan composed of two alpha- and one beta-D-mannopyranosyl residues with the structure, [-->2)-alpha-D-Man p-(1-->2)-alpha-D-Man p-(1-->3)-beta-D-Man p-(1-->]n