Structure of a polysaccharide from a Rhizobium species containing 2-deoxy-beta-D-arabino-hexuronic acid

The structure of the extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) produced by the Rhizobium sp. B strain isolated from atypical nodules on alfalfa has been determined using a combination of chemical and physical techniques (methylation analysis, high pH-anion exchange chromatography (HPAEC), mass spectrometry and 1-D and 2-D NMR spectroscopy). As opposed to the EPS from other strains of Rhizobium, the EPS from the sp. B strain contains D-Glc together with L-Rha and 2-deoxy-D-arabino-hexuronic acid. It is a polymer of a repeating unit having the following structure: --> 4)-beta-D-Glcp-(1 --> 4)-alpha-L-Rhap -(1 --> 3)-beta-D-Glcp-(1 --> 4)-2-deoxy-beta-D-GlcpA-(1 -->. The polysaccharide also contains 0.6 O-acetyl groups per sugar which have not been located.