
Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is the major component of the
outer leaflet of the outer membrane of Gram-negative
bacteria [1]. LPS of enterobacteria consist of three
domains, namely lipid A, core-region and O-antigen [2].
Due to its exposed location, it is the major target of the
humoral immune response in mammals and the lipid A
moiety is responsible for many of the pathological effects
seen in septic shock patients. Whereas the chemical
structure of the O-antigen is highly variable, the core-
region and lipid A show only a limited structural
variability within the same species. This prompted many
investigators to attempt the isolation of antibodies
directed against the conserved regions of LPS, i.e. lipid A
andcore-region(reviewedin[3]).Itwasassumedthat
these antibodies would be both cross-reactive and cross-
protective against different Gram-negative pathogens.
Whereas a cross-protective effect was described for a
polyclonal antiserum as early as in 1966 [4], all
subsequently isolated monoclonal antibodies failed to
show cross-reactivity in vitro and cross-protectivity in vivo
[3], except one reported by DiPadova et al.(mAb
WN1 222-5). This mAb recognized LPS from all tested
clinical isolates of E. coli,Salmonella,andShigella in
Western-blots and showed cross-protective effects in vivo
against endotoxic activities of LPS [5]. The cross-reacti-
vity was attributed to a common epitope located in the
inner core-region of these LPS. In order to verify this
assumption, we have determined the as yet unknown
chemical structures of those LPS that reacted with this
mAb.
The chemical structures of four E. coli core-oligosac-
charides (R1, R2, R3, and K-12) and two core-oligosac-
charides of S. enterica [2] are known. The chemical
structure of the E. coli R3 core-type was determined by
methylation analysis [6,7]. Complete core-oligosaccharides
were isolated and NMR chemical shift data were
determined for core-oligosaccharides of the R1 and R2
core-types [8] whereas the chemical structure of the inner
core-region of the E. coli R4 core-type was hitherto
unknown. The chemical structure of the outer core region
of the latter was determined by methylation analysis [9].
We have now isolated the complete core-oligosaccharides
and investigated the chemical structure of this LPS in
detail to understand the cross-reactivity of WN1 222-5.
Since these data are a prerequisite for NMR based
conformational analysis of the inner core region of
enterobacterial LPS and epitope mapping of WN1 222-5
we have in addition isolated the complete core-oligosac-
charides of E. coli F653 (R3-core) and determined NMR
chemical shift values.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Bacteria and bacterial LPS
E. coli strains 2513 and F653 were cultivated and used for
the isolation of LPS by phenol/chloroform/petrolether-
extraction as reported [10].
Analytical methods
Neutral sugars, GlcN, Kdo and bound organic phosphate
were determined as described [11].
Preparation of deacylated LPS of
E. coli
2513
LPS (5 g) was de-O-acylated by mild hydrazinolysis [7]
(yield 3.84 g) and 400 mg of the latter were subjected to
alkaline de-N-acylation as described [12]. After neutraliza-
tion by addition of ion exchanger Amberlite IRA120 H
+
(Serva), 160 mg of the deacylated oligosaccharide fraction
(yield 217 mg) was subjected to high-performance anion-
exchange chromatography (HPAEC; eight runs of 20 mg
each) using a semipreparative CarboPak PA100 column
(9 ·250 mm) and a DX300 chromatography system (Dio-
nex, Germany). The main (fraction 2; oligosaccharide 1,
yield 31.44 mg) and the minor oligosaccharide (fraction 1;
oligosaccharide 2, yield 10.96 mg) were collected, neutral-
ized and desalted as described above by addition of
ion-exchanger followed by lyophilization. Conditions for
semipreparative and analytical HPAEC were as described
previously [13].
Preparation of deacylated LPS of
E. coli
F653
LPS (2.11 g) was de-O-acylated by mild hydrazinolysis
(yield 1.425 g) and 902.5 mg were further subjected to
alkaline de-N-acylation as above. The solution was neut-
ralized by addition of 8
M
HCl and extracted three times
with dichloromethane. Subsequent desalting was achieved
by gelfiltration on Sephadex G10 (2.5 ·65 cm) in 10 m
M
ammonium carbonate (yield 420 mg). A portion (417 mg)
of the desalted oligosaccharide mixture was subjected to
semipreparative HPAEC as described above. The sample
was redissolved in water at a concentration of 90 mgÆmL
)1
and 450 lL per run loaded onto the HPAEC column.
Elution and separation was achieved by a linear gradient of
2–600 m
M
NaOAc over a time of 70 min. Fractions were
analyzed by analytical HPAEC and appropriately com-
bined. Desalting was achieved by gelfiltration as described
above. Two pure oligosaccharides were obtained (fraction 1;
oligosaccharide 3, 145.22 mg; fraction 2; oligosaccharide 4,
70.7 mg).
NMR-spectroscopy
NMR-spectra were recorded of samples of deacylated LPS
(11 mg each of R4 oligosaccharides 1 and 2 and 10 mg
each of R3 oligosaccharides 3 and 4) in 0.5 mL solutions in
D
2
O using a Bruker DRX 600 Avance spectrometer
equipped with a multinuclear probehead with z-gradient.
Acetone served as a reference 2.225 p.p.m. (
1
H) and
31.5 p.p.m. (
13
C). All spectra were run at a temperature
of 300 K.
NMR of oligosaccharide 1 (R4 core). Two-dimensional
homonuclear
1
H,
1
H-COSY was performed with a double
quantum filter and time-proportional phase incrementation
(TPPI) (DQF-COSY). The Bruker
COSYDFTP
pulseprogram
was modified to allow water suppression with 10 Gaussian
shaped pulses of 100 ms defined by 1024 points during the
relaxation delay. Five-hundred and twelve experiments of
4096 data points each were recorded over a spectral width of
6.5 p.p.m. in each dimension. Prior to Fourier transforma-
tion F1 was zero-filled to 1024 data points.
TOCSY was performed at a spinlock field strength of
8 kHz for 75.15 ms using the Bruker
MLEVPRTP
pulse
FEBS 2002 Chemical structure of E. coli R3 and R4 LPS (Eur. J. Biochem. 269) 5983