[Structure of repeating unit of the O-specific polysaccharide from Yersinia mollaretii strain WS 42/89]

The O-specific polysaccharide was isolated from Yersinia mollaretii strain WS 42/89 and characterized. Studies of the partial hydrolysis and methylation products and the 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy data enabled the following structure to be proposed for the repeating unit of the polysaccharide: -->2)-beta-D-Galp-(1-->3)-alpha-D-6dGulp-(1--> The same structure was ascribed to the O-specific polysaccharide from Yersinia enterocolitica serovar O:6.31. The difference between these two O-antigens from various Yersinia species is in the absence of D-glycero-D-manno-heptose residues in the structure of the lipopolysaccharide from Y. mollaretii.