SIMILARITY OF CORE STRUCTURES IN 2 DIFFERENT GLYCANS OF TYROSINE-LINKED EUBACTERIAL S-LAYER GLYCOPROTEINS

Previously, the repeating-unit structure of the S-layer glycoprotein from the eubacterium Bacillus alvei CCM 2051 has been determined to be [-->3)-beta-D-Galp-(1-->4)-[alpha-D-Glcp-(1-->6)-]-beta-D-ManpNAc-(1-->](n) (E, Altman, J,-R, Brisson, P, Messner, and U, B, Sleytr, Biochem, Cell Biol, 69:72-78, 1991), Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic reexamination of this glycan reveals that the O-antigen-like domain of the polysaccharide is [GRAPHICS] connected with the S-layer polypeptide through the ''core'' structure -->3)-alpha-L-Rhap-(1-->3)-alpha-L-Rhap-(1-->3)-alpha-L-Rhap-(1-->3)-beta-D-Galp-(1-->0)-Tyr. Except for the substitution in position 4 of the nonreducing rhamnose with the modified glyceric acid phosphate residue GroA-2-->OPO2-->4-beta-D-ManpNAc-(1-->, this core is identical to the core of the tyrosine-linked glycan from the S-layer glycoprotein of Thermoanaerobacter thermohydrosulfuricus L111-69 (K, Beck, J, Schuster-Kolbe, E, Altman, G, Allmaier, B, Stahl, R, Christian, U, B, Sleytr, and P. Messner, J, Biol, Chem, 269:7137-7144, 1994).