Partial deletion of the cloned rfb gene of Escherichia coli O9 results in synthesis of a new O-antigenic lipopolysaccharide

The rfb gene, involved in the synthesis of the O-specific polysaccharide (a mannose homopolymer) of Escherichia coli O9 lipopolysaccharide (LPS), was cloned in E. coli K-12 strains. The O9-specific polysaccharide covalently linked to the R core of K-12 was extracted from the K-12 strains harboring the O9 rfb gene. All the other genes required for the synthesis of rfe-dependent LPS are therefore considered to be present in the K-12 strains. It was found that bacteria harboring some clones with deletions of the ca. 20-kilobase-pair (kbp) BglII-StuI fragment no longer synthesized the O9-specific polysaccharide. However, bacteria harboring clones del 21, del 22, and del 25, which carry deletions of the 10-kbp PstI-StuI fragment, synthesized an O-specific polysaccharide antigenically distinct from E. coli O9 LPS. Although this new O-specific polysaccharide consisted solely of mannose and the mannose residues were combined only through α-1,2 linkage, it was still composed of a repeating oligosaccharide unit, possibly a trisaccharide unit, →2)αMan-(1→2)αMan-(1→2)αMan-(1→. It is therefore likely that this new O-specific polysaccharide was derived from a part of the O9-specific polysaccharide →3)αMan-(1→3)αMan-(1→2)αMan-(1→2)αMan-(1→2)αMan-(1→ and that the deleted part of the clones was responsible for the synthesis of α-1,3 linkages of the O9-specific polysaccharide.