Stable isotope metabolic labeling of Neisseria meningitidis lipooligosaccharide

The lipooligosaccharide (LOS) of a Neisseria meningitidis acetate auxotroph was metabolically labeled with either [2-13C]-sodium acetate or [1,2-13C2]-sodium acetate. In this study, we demonstrated that this label was efficiently incorporated into both the lipid A acyl moieties and the two N-acetylglucosamines present in the oligosaccharide branch of the LOS. The development of this efficient labeling protocol should prove useful in future structural studies analyzing the interactions between LOS and host proteins.