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Updated: Sep 21, 2026

Purification and Visualization of Lipopolysaccharide from Gram-negative Bacteria by Hot Aqueous-phenol Extraction
Published on: May 28, 2012
Molecular genetics and role in infection of environmentally regulated lipopolysaccharide expression
Andrew Preston1, Duncan J Maskell
1Centre for Veterinary Science, Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. ap243@mole.bio.cam.ac.uk
Abstract:
Lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) from different Gram-negative bacteria are structurally distinct. Even closely related serovars of single bacterial species may possess different LPS molecules. Further variability may then be superimposed on this ground-state structural diversity as a result of variable expression of other LPS structures. This variable expression is due in some cases to high-frequency, reversible, random "on-off" switching of genes required for biosynthesis of particular LPS structures. In other cases differential expression of LPS biosynthesis genes may be part of a programmed response to environmental stimuli, which may occur as adaptations by pathogenic bacteria to changing environments within the host during the course of infection.
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