Crystallization of an R-form lipopolysaccharide from Klebsiella pneumoniae

Nobuo Kato, Michio Ohta, Yoshichika Arakawa, Setsuko Naito, Tsuyoshi Sugiyama, Hideo Ito, Nobuo Kido, Kyoyu Sasaki, Junpei Asai

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

An R-form lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Klebsiella pneumoniae strain LEN- 111 (O3-:K1-) formed crystals, whose shapes were elongated hexagonal plates, trapezoid plates, and rhomboid plates, and whose greatest dimensions were 3.1 x 0.8 μm, when it was suspended in 50 mM Tris buffer at pH 8.5 containing 5 mM MgCl2 and kept at 4 C for as long as 870 days. K. pneumoniae LEN-111 synthesized LPS molecules possessing incomplete repeating units of the O-antigenic polysaccharide portion besides the R-form LPS because of a leaky characteristic, but crystals consisted exclusively of the R-form LPS. Although the size of crystals was not large enough for X-ray analysis and limited crystallographic information was available, it was suggested that the crystals consist of hexagonal lattices with an a axis of 4.62 Å and c axis of 79.8±2.6 Å. The present results showed that R-form LPS lacking the O- antigenic polysaccharide portion tends to form crystals during long-term incubation in Tris buffer at pH 8.5 containing MgCl2 at 4 C.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)407-413
Number of pages7
JournalMICROBIOLOGY and IMMUNOLOGY
Volume40
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1996
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Microbiology
  • Immunology
  • Virology

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