Influence of the Length of the Lipooligosaccharide α Chain on Its Sialylation in Neisseria meningitidis |
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| Authors: | Chao-Ming Tsai George Kao Peixuan Zhu |
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| Affiliation: | Division of Bacterial, Parasitic, and Allergenic Products, Center for Biologics, Food and Drug Administration, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. tsai@cber.fda.gov |
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| Abstract: | The sialylation of lipooligosaccharide (LOS) in Neisseria meningitidis plays a role in the resistance of the organism to killing by normal human serum. The length of the alpha chain extending out from the heptose I [Hep (I)] moiety of LOS influenced sialylation of N. meningitidis LOS in vitro and in vivo. The alpha chain required a terminal Gal and a trisaccharide or longer oligosaccharide to serve as an acceptor for sialylation. The disaccharide lactose (Galbeta1-4Glc) in the alpha chain of immunotype L8 LOS could not function as an acceptor for the sialyltransferase, probably due to steric hindrance imposed by the neighboring Hep (II) with phosphorylethanolamine and another group attached. |
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