The structure of lipooligosaccharide produced by Neisseria gonorrhoeae, strain 15253, isolated from a patient with disseminated infection. Evidence for a new glycosylation pathway of the gonococcal lipooligosaccharide.

We studied the structure of the lipooligosaccharide (LOS) that is produced by Neisseria gonorrhoeae, strain 15253. This strain, recovered from a patient with disseminated infection, produces predominantly a single LOS component, and its oligosaccharide (OS) structure is different from those of previously studied LOSs. Definition of this OS structure provides additional information on the LOS biosynthesis. We determined that the 15253 OS has an unusual structure: 2 lactosyl residues at its nonreducing ends shown below, [formula: see text] where KDO is 2-keto-3-deoxy-mannooctulosonic acid and Hep is heptose. Comparison of this OS structure with those determined previously indicates the presence of a new glycosylation pathway for gonococcal OS biosynthesis: elongation of a GlcNAc-linked heptose, in contrast to elongation of the other heptose by sequential addition of glycoses which results in the antigenic similarity with human glycolipids. The current study provides not only additional structural information on LOS expressed during different clinical states of infection but also evidence for the diversity of gonococcal LOS biosynthesis. This evidence may be helpful in understanding the pathogenesis involving gonococcal LOS.