Structural studies of the cell wall polysaccharide of Nocardia asteroides R 399

As with other bacteria belonging to the corynebacteria, mycobacteria, and nocardia group, Nocardia possess in their cell walls a neutral polysaccharide. Structural analysis of the cell wall polysaccharide of Nocardia asteroides R 399 was undertaken. The carbohydrate polymer contained D-arabinose and D-galactose as in mycobacteria. Besides these two carbohydrates we pointed out the occurrence of two additional components: D-glucose and a polyol. This polyol, because of its small amount and its uneasy detection, had been for a long time ignored. It has been proven to be the 6-deoxy-D-altritol or 1-deoxy-D-talitol. The polymer consists of a main strand composed of----5 Araf 1----and----4Galp1----or----5Galf1----; oligoarabinosyl side chains were localized on C3 of an arabinosyl residue. Other shorter ramifications also occur on some galactosyl units. A characterization of the linkage between polysaccharide and peptidoglycan inside the cell wall has also been carried out. The two polymers are joined by a phosphodiester bond which involves 6-deoxyaltritol. As some corynebacteria previously analyzed were also shown to contain mannose (and sometimes glucose), we can conclude that the main skeleton of cell wall polysaccharides of the corynebacteria, mycobacteria, and nocardia group of bacteria is an arabinogalactan; however, individual structural features of the polysaccharide are varying according to the bacterial species. These results might be connected with variations that were observed in immunological analysis.