Chemical alterations in cell envelopes of polymyxin-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates

Cell envelopes from Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains resistant to polymyxin were compared with cell envelopes from polymyxin-sensitive strains as to their content of total protein, carbohydrate, and 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate and as to their protein composition as determined by slab polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The cell envelopes of the polymyxin-resistant strains had reduced amounts of lipopolysaccharide, as indicated a reduction in both carbohydrate and 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate concentrations, and a greatly altered protein composition as shown by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. There was a quantitative increase in total cell envelop protein in these strains. However, those protein bands identified as being major outer membrane proteins upon polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of separated outer and cytoplasmic membranes were reduced greatly in concentration in the polymyxin-resistant cell envelopes. Thus, it appears that polymyxin resistance in these strains is associated with the alteration of the outer membrane through a loss of lipopolysaccharide and outer membrane proteins.

Degradation of bacterial lipopolysaccharide by gut juice os the snail Helix pomatia

Lipopolysaccharides from several bacteria were selectively degarded by gut juice of the snail Helix pomatia with extensive loss of anticomplementary activity and changes in the electrophoretic pattern in polyacrylamide gels. The gut juice had little effect on ketodeoxyoctonate content or immunodominant sugars. The lipid A moiety of the lipopolysaccharide appeared to be the main site of attack.

Separation of inner and outer membranes of Rickettsia prowazeki and characterization of their polypeptide compositions

Rickettsia prowazeki were disrupted in a French pressure cell and fractionated into soluble (cytoplasm) and envelope fractions. The envelope contained 25% of the cell protein, with the cytoplasm containing 75%. Upon density gradient centrifugation, the envelope fraction separated into a heavy band (1.23 g/cm3) and a lighter band (1.19 g/cm3). The heavy band had a high content of 2-keto-3-deoxyoctulosonic acid, a marker for bacterial lipopolysaccharide, but had no succinic dehydrogenase, a marker for cytoplasmic membrane activity, and therefore represented outer membrane. The lighter band exhibited a high succinate dehydrogenase activity, and thus contained inner (cytoplasmic) membrane. Outer membrane purified by this method was less than 5% contaiminated by cytoplasmic membrane; however, inner membrane from the gradient was as much as 30% contaminated by outer membrane. The protein composition of each cellular fraction was characterized by sodium dodecyl sulfate--polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The outer membrane contained four major proteins, which were also major proteins of the whole cell. The cytoplasmic membrane and soluble cytoplasm exhibited a more complex pattern on gels.

Structural elucidation of the 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonic acid containing meningococcal 29-e capsular polysaccharide antigen using carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance

The capsular polysaccharide antigen from Neisseria meningitidis serogroup 29-e contains equimolar quantities of 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-galactose and 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonic acid (KDO), the latter of which is rarely found in biopolymers other than lipopolysaccharides. Carbon-13 nuclear mangetic resonance in conjunction with other chemical data indicated that the polysaccharide is composed of an alternating sequence of these two residues, the linkages being at C-3 of galactosamine and C-7 of KDO in the alpha-D and beta-D configuration, respectively. The native 29-e polysaccharide is O-acetylated, the O-acetyl groups being located at C-4 and C-5 of the KDO residues. Assignments of signals in the 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum of the 29-e polysaccharide were made by consideration of those in the spectra of the monomer models, which necessitated the first recorded syntheses of methyl-alpha- and beta-D-3-deoxy-manno-octulopyranosonic acid. Like the methyl alpha- and beta-D-ketosides of sialic acid (Na+ salts), the equivalent methyl alpha- and beta-D-ketosides of KDO exhibit large chemical shift differences in the exocyclic C-8 position dependent on anomeric configuration. This can again be attributed to hydrogen bonding between the axial carboxylate group of the methyl beta-D anomer of KDO (C1 conformation) and the primary hydroxyl group at C-8. This phenomenon is also exhibited by the beta-D-linked KDO units of the 29-e polysaccharide.

Effect on particle size of solubilization of wild-type and Re chemotype lipopolysaccharides solubilized with bovine serum albumin and triethylamine

Disaggregation of wild-type and Re chemotype lipopolysaccharides (LPS) has been accomplished by solubilization with triethylamine followed by stabilization with bovine serum albumin in order to determine the degree of aggregation. Solubilization with 1.5% triethylamine was found to be more effective than with lower concentrations, as judged by permeation chromatography. Chromatographic analysis of triethylamine-bovine serum albumin-disaggregated LPS showed a range of particle sizes. Wild-type LPS yielded size classes of 1 X 10(6) to 4 X 10(6) daltons, 250,000 daltons, and 20,000 daltons. Re LPS yielded size classes of 1 X 10(6) to 4 X 10(6) daltons and 20,000 daltons. Untreated LPS was always greater than 4 X 10(6) daltons. Chemical characterization of the size classes revealed 3-keto-2-deoxyoctonate in all size classes and suggests that the O-antigenic side chain length may determine the aggregate size in solubilized LPS.

Isolation and characterization of outer and inner membranes from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and effect of EDTA on the membranes

The outer and inner cytoplasmic membranes of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were separated as small and large membranes, respectively, from the cell envelope of this organism treated with lysozyme in Tris-chloride buffer containing sucrose and MgCl2 by differential centrifugation. The small membrane fraction contained predominantly 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate (KDO), and little cytochromes or oxidase activities. The small membrane was composed of only 9 polypeptides and showed homogeneous small vesicles electron-microscopically. On the other hand, the large membrane fraction had high cytochrome contents and oxidase activities, and little KDO. The large membrane was composed of a number of polypeptides and showed large fragments or vesicles electron-microscopically. These results indicate that the small and large membranes are the outer and inner cytoplasmic membranes of P. aeruginosa, respectively. The isolated outer membrane showed a symmetrical protein peak with a density of 1.23 on sucrose density gradient centrifugation and the isolated inner membrane showed an unusually high density, probably due to association with ribosomes and extrinsic or loosely bound proteins. EDTA lowered the density of both membranes and caused lethal damage to the outer membrane, causing disintegration with the release of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), proteins and phospholipid.

Isolation of alpha-glucan and lipopolysaccharide fractions from Acetobacter xylinum

A cellular phenol-water extract of Acetobacter xylinum NRC 17007 was fractionated on Sepharose 4 B. The fraction eluting with the void volume consisted to about 95% of glycogen-like material. The lipopolysaccharide fraction was of lower molecular weight and had the following composition (%, w/w): Mannose, 42; glucose, 7; galactose, 3.8; heptose, 2; 2-keto-3-deoxy-octonate, 1.2; glucosamine, 3.3; phosphate, 4.5; total fatty acids, 3.9. Among the fatty acids, 3-hydroxy-tetradecanoic acid was present, and 2-hydroxy-hexadecanoic acid predominated.

Mutants of Escherichia coli "cryptic" for certain periplasmic enzymes: evidence for an alteration of the outer membrane

Mutants in which the expression of periplasmic enzymes by whole cells is reduced (termed "cryptic") are also found to show greatly reduced uptake of labeled adenosine 5'-monophosphate (5'-AMP), providing a rapid assay for crypticity. The crypticity of 3'- and 5'-nucleotidase has been examined as a function of substrate concentration. The Km for 3'- or 5'-AMP increases in the cryptic mutants when whole cells are used as the enzyme source. The Vmax is not altered. Electrophoretic analysis of protein prepared from cell envelopes showed that three cryptic mutants have a polypeptide absent from the outer membrane and a relatively high proportion of a polypeptide in the inner membrane. Analysis of the molar ratios of constituent sugars of the lipopolysaccharides showed no differences between three cryptic mutants and the parent strain. One cryptic mutant (3--41), however, has altered sensitivity to phage T4. By selection for phage resistance, derivatives of the cryptic mutants that are deoxycholate sensitive have been obtained. These mutants are no longer cryptic. We suggest that cryptic mutants have an altered outer membrane, with decreased permeability to 3'- and 5'-AMP, as a result of an altered polypeptide.

[Structure of shigella antigens. Heterogeneity of specific polysaccharides of 2 Shigella flexneri strains and 2 Sh. flexneri/Escherichia coli hybrids]

The S-specific polysaccharide from 2 Sh. flexneri wild strains (with serological var. X- and var. Y-specificity, respectively) and 2 Sh. flexneri E. coli hybrids (with the same specificities) can be separated by means of gel chromatography on Sephadex G-200 and G-50 into altogether 6 fractions per strain. Fraction G-200/1 (molecular weight greater than 10(6)D) represents a polymer consisting nearly exclusively of glucose and is present mainly in the two Y-type strains, much less in the two X-type strains. Fractions G-200/2 and G-200/3 (molecular weight approximately 10(5)D and approximately 2 - 10(4)D, respectively) seem to consist mainly of the S-specific side chains while fraction G-50/2 (molecular weight approximately 2000 D) presumably contains an SR-polysaccharide (core with one repeating unit.) Fraction G-50/3 (molecular weight approximately 100 D) contains the core polysaccharide and fraction G-50/4 splitting products (mainly KDO). No significant differences in chromatographical behaviour and quantitative composition could be found between the polysaccharides of the wild strains and the hybrid strains. Because of the well-known stability of the glucosaminyl linkages the sugar analysis was not only performed after acidic hydrolysis. In some cases the acid hydrolysate was reacted with HNO2 to cleave the glucosaminyl linkages. In most cases the values obtaines now were higher than those obtained directly.

Immunochemical investigations on lipopolysaccharides and acidic polysaccharides from serum-sensitive and serum-resistant strains of Escherichia coli isolated from urinary-tract infections

Factors that may determine the variable resistance of urinary strains of Escherichia coli to the bactericidal activity of normal human serum have been analysed. No statistically significant difference was found in the amount of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) that could be extracted from serum-sensitive and serum-resistant strains by either the phenol-water or warm-saline techniques. The ratio of LPS O-side-chain sugars to core sugars was not found to be significantly greater in serum-resistant than in serum-sensitive strains. A sugar resembling D-glycero-D-mannoheptose was found in LPS from some of the strains; in one case the sugar was shown to be associated with the O-side chain moiety. Lipopolysaccharides from all but two of the strains contained the E. coli R1 core structure. No consistent difference was observed between serum-sensitive and serum-resistant strains in either the amount of acidic polysaccharide extracted or its red-cell agglutination-inhibiting activity; nor was a clear relationship found between sensitivity to serum and sensitivity to R-specific bacteriophages. It is concluded that no one mechanism of serum resistance explains the response to serum of the E. coli strains examined in this study.

Cellular monosaccharide patterns of Neisseriaceae

Sixty-four strains of Neisseria, Moraxella, and Acinetobacter were screened for cellular monosaccharides by gas-liquid chromatography and other chromatographic techniques. The four sugars ribose, glucose, glucosamine, and 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate (KDO) were detected in all strains. Heptose was detected only in "true neisseriae" (Neisseria gonorrhoeae, N. meningitidis, N. sicca, N. cinerea, N. flavescens, and N. elongata) and in the tentaively named species Moraxella urethralis. Some marked interspecies dissimilarities within groups were revealed. Thus, N. ovis and M. atlantae were characterized by the presence of mannose. Intraspecies differences were also encountered. N. meningitidis strains of serogroups B and C were distinguished from strains of serogroup A by their sialic acid content. This sugar was also detected in two out of three examined strains of M. nonliquefaciens. In Acinetobacter, heterogeneity of monosaccharide patterns was rather pronounced. The results show the applicability of gas chromatographic "monosaccharide" profiles fo whole cells or extracted carbohydrate in bacterial classification and identification, including differentiation at the subspecies level. In addition, such profiles may be useful for monitoring during purification of cellular polysaccharides.

Isolation and characterization of membranes from a hydrocarbon-oxidizing Acinetobacter sp

Membranes were isolated and purified from nutrient broth-yeast extract- and hexadecane-grown cells of Acinetobacter sp. strain HO1-N. Two membrane fractions were isolated from nutrient broth-yeast extract-grown cells, the cytoplasmic membrane and the outer membrane. In addition to these two membrane fractions, a unique membrane fraction was isolated from hexadecane-grown cells (band 1) and characterized as a lipid-rich, low-density membrane containing high concentrations of hexadecane. The outer membrane preparations of Acinetobacter, obtained from nutrient broth-yeast extract- and hexadecane-grown cells, exhibited a low ratio of lipid phosphorus to protein and contained phospholipase activity and 2-keto-3-deoxyoctulosonic acid. Phosphatidic acid cytidyltransferase, adenosine triphosphatase, and reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide oxidase were recovered almost exclusively in the cytoplasmic membrane fractions. The cytoplasmic membrane fractions contained 20 to 25 polypeptide species on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels, and the outer membrane fractions contained 15 to 20 polypeptide species. A major polypeptide species with an apparent molecular weight of approximately 42,000 to 44,000 was found for all outer membrane fractions. The buoyant densities of the cytoplasmic membrane fractions and the outer membrane fractions were closely similar, necessitating their separation by differential centrifugation. Band 1 of hexadecane-grown cells had a ratio of lipid phosphorus to protein that was almost twice that of cytoplasmic membrane and a correspondingly low buoyant density (1.086 g/cm3). Enzyme activities associated with band 1 were identical to those associated with the cytoplasmic membrane. The electrophoretic banding pattern of band 1 was essentially identical to the banding pattern of the cytoplasmic membrane. The phospholipid and neutral lipid compositions of the isolated membrane fractions were determined as qualitatively similar, with significant quantitative differences. The ultrastructure characteristics of the respective membrane fractions were examined by the negative-stain technique.

Characterization of intracytoplasmic hydrocarbon inclusions from the hydrocarbon-oxidizing Acinetobacter species HO1-N

The ultrastructure of Acinetobacter sp. strain HO1-N grown on hydrocarbon and nonhydrocarbon substrates was compared using thin sections and freeze-etching. Hydrocarbon-grown cells were characterized by the presence of intracytoplasmic membrane-bound hexadecane inclusions. This membrane did not exhibit a typical unit membrane structure but appeared as a monolayer. The freeze-etch technique revealed the internal structure of the hexadecane inclusions and provided evidence for the presence of a smooth-surfaced limiting membrane. Freeze-etching also revealed intracytoplasmic membranes in the hexadecane-grown cells. These ultrastructural modifications were not present in nonhydrocarbon-grown cells. The hexadecane inclusions were isolated from Acinetobacter. Negative-staining of the inclusions revealed electron-transparent vesicles approximating the size of the inclusions seen in whole cells. Freeze-etching of the purified inclusions revealed membrane-bound vesicles. The purified inclusions exhibited a relatively high value of lipid phosphorus to protein. The lipid composition and the electrophoretic banding pattern of the inclusions on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels were determined and compared with other membrane fractions (outer membrane and cytoplasmic membrane) previously isolated from this organism.

[Chemotypes of "Shigella flexneri" R mutants and related phage receptors. I. -- Chemical study of the lipopolysaccharides (author's transl)]

The F6R rough mutants isolated from Shigella flexneri F6S, serotype 5b, and the FH rough mutants, derived from other serotypes of S. flexneri, were chemotyped according to the chemical analysis of their lipopolysaccharides. Further, the following stages of lipopolysaccharide core biosynthesis in S. flexneri have been established: --(KDO)3--heptose--heptose--glucose--galactose; the last three stages are: either --glucose--glucosamine--glucose, or --glucosamine--glucose--glucose. The results of the chemical study of the R lipopolysaccharides are compatible with the assumption of the existence of a similar core in all considered S. flexneri serotypes.

Cell-wall lipopolysaccharide of the 'Shigella-like' Escherichia coli 0124. Structure of the polysaccharide chain

From Escherichia coli 0124 two lipopolysaccharide preparations were obtained with phenol/water extraction and cetavlon precipitation. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecylsulfate and chemical analysis showed that the two preparations from E. coli 0124 and the corresponding preparations from Shigella dysenteriae type 3 reacted alike. The O-specific polysaccharide moiety was characterized with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, optical rotation and paper electrophoresis. The constituents were determined by gas chromatography and ion-exchange chromatography. The polysaccharide contained glucose (Glc), galactose (Gal), galactosamine (GalN) and 4-O-(1'-carboxyethyl)-D-glucopyranose (glucolactilic acid, GlcLA) in the molar ratios of 1:2:1:1. Glucolactilic acid, which has a structure similar to muramic acid, was first found in Sh. dysenteriae. The polysaccharide from E. coli 0124 and oligosaccharides obtained from it by partial acid hydrolysis were subjected to methylation analysis using the method of combined gas chromatography--mass spectrometry. The results indicated that the pentasaccharide repeating unit of the polysaccharide is (see article). In the polysaccharide the repeating units are joined through galactofuranosidic linkages. This structure is identical with that of the somatic polysaccharide of Sh. dysenterae type 3.

Studies on the cellular and free lipopolysaccharides from Branhamella catarrhalis

Cellular and free lipopolysaccharides obtained from Neisseria catarrhalis and Branhamella catarrhalis were found to be essentially identical. Both cellular and free lipopolysaccharides contained core-oligosaccharides of the following composition: D-glucose (4 mol), D-galactose (1 mol), 2-amino-2-deoxy-D-glucose (1 mol), and 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonic acid. Aldoheptose and phosphate components were below levels of detection. Several physical methods indicated that all core-oligosaccharide preparations were identical. Lipid A preparations from cellular and free lipopolysaccharides of both organisms were qualitatively and quantitatively similar; they were composed of decanoic acid, dodecanoic acid, 3-hydroxy dodecanoic acid, 2-amino-2-deoxy-D-glucose, phosphate, and ethanolamine. The results tend to justify the transfer of Neisseria catarrhalis to the genus Branhamella.

Fluorescence densitometric method for the determination of gluconic and lactobionic acids ("sugar acids") in pharmaceutical preparations

An in situ fluorimetric method has been developed for the quantitation of gluconic and lactobionic acids and their salts in tablet formulations. The method is based on glycol cleavage with lead tetraacetate followed by treatment with dichlorofluorescein. Calcium gluconate and lactobionate were determined in Calcium-Sandoz and Ca-C 1000 Sandoz effervescent tablets. The reproducibility corresponded to relative standard deviations between 0.7 and 3.5% (usually below 2%). Detection limits of 0.2 mug per spot can be obtained. Interfering compounds such as citric acid, sugars and ascorbic acid can be separated from the "sugar acids". The linearity of the calibration graphs between 0.5 and 5 mug per spot is satisfactory (r = 0.994-0.999). The method is simple and could be applied to the routine analysis of suitable pharmaceutical formulations. Other compounds with glycol structures should also be adaptable to this technique.

3-Deoxy-2-octulosonic acid 5-phosphate: a component of the endotoxin of Bordetella pertussis

Upon hydrolysis with 2 N hydrochloric acid for 2 h, a 3-deoxy-octulosonic acid 5-phosphate was released from the endotoxin of Bordetella pertussis. The structure of the compound was established through chemical degradation. By periodate treatment of the intact endotoxin it was shown that positions 7 and 8 of the bound octulosonic acid phosphate were free, which, if present in a cyclic form, must be a pyranoside.