Measurement of three-bond coupling constants in the osmoregulated periplasmic glucan of Burkholderia solanacearum

Osmoregulated periplasmic glucans of the free-living photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides

The osmoregulated periplasmic glucans (OPGs) produced by Rhodobacter sphaeroides, a free-living organism, were isolated by trichloracetic acid treatment and gel permeation chromatography. Compounds obtained were characterized by compositional analysis, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance. R. sphaeroides predominantly synthesizes a cyclic glucan containing 18 glucose residues that can be substituted by one to seven succinyl esters residues at the C6 position of some of the glucose residues, and by one or two acetyl residues. The glucans were subjected to a mild alkaline treatment in order to remove the succinyl and acetyl substituents, analyzed by MALDI mass spectrometry and purified by high-performance anion-exchange chromatography. Methylation analysis revealed that this glucan is linked by 17 1,2 glycosidic bonds and one 1,6 glycosidic bond. Homonuclear and (1)H/(13)C heteronuclear NMR experiments revealed the presence of a single alpha-1,6 glycosidic linkage, whereas all other glucose residues are beta-1,2 linked. The different anomeric proton signals allowed a complete sequence-specific assignment of the glucan. The structural characteristics of this glucan are very similar to the previously described OPGs of Ralstonia solanacearum and Xanthomonas campestris, except for its different size and the presence of substituents. Therefore, similar OPGs are synthesized by phytopathogenic as well as free-living bacteria, suggesting these compounds are intrinsic components of the Gram-negative bacterial envelope.

In vivo detection of the cyclic osmoregulated periplasmic glucan of Ralstonia solanacearum by high-resolution magic angle spinning NMR

We investigate the mobility of the osmoregulated periplasmic glucans of Ralstonia solanacearum in the bacterial periplasm through the use of high-resolution (HR) NMR spectroscopy under static and magic angle spinning (MAS) conditions. Because the nature of periplasm is far from an isotropic aqueous solution, the molecules could be freely diffusing or rather associated to a periplasmic protein, a membrane protein, a lipid, or the peptidoglycan. HR MAS NMR spectroscopy leads to more reproducible results and allows the in vivo detection and characterization of the complex molecule.

New conformational constraints in isotopically (13C) enriched oligosaccharides

Multidimensional heteronuclear NMR studies have been applied to the resonance assignment and conformational analysis of 13C-enriched Neu5Acalpha2-3Galbeta1-4Glc. It is demonstrated that three-dimensional ROESY-HSQC experiments provide through-space distance restraints which cannot be observed with conventional homonuclear 1H techniques due to resonance overlap. In particular, connectivities demonstrating the existence of the "anti" conformation about the Galbeta1-4Glc glycosidic linkage are unambiguously observed. It is shown that 13C isotopic enrichment of the trisaccharide at a level >95% enables straightforward measurement of trans-glycosidic 1H-13C and 13C-13C coupling constants and a Karplus-type relation is derived for the latter. In total 15 conformational restraints were obtained for the trisaccharide in aqueous solution, all of which were in excellent agreement with theoretical parameters computed from a 5 ns molecular dynamics simulation of the glycan.

Measurement of long-range carbon-carbon coupling constants in a uniformly enriched complex polysaccharide

A quantitative coherence transfer scheme for 1H-detected measurement of long-range carbon-carbon coupling constants in NMR spectra of complex carbohydrates is described. It is applied to a uniformly highly 13C-enriched monosaccharide and to a complex cell wall polysaccharide from Streptococcus mitis J22 having seven distinct sugars in the repeating subunit. Coupling values within the ring were compared to published values for monosaccharides to demonstrate the validity of the method. An attempt was made to relate coupling constants between carbon atoms across the glycosidic linkage to the dihedral angles of a recently published flexible model for the polysaccharide which is based on 3JCH data. The experimental coupling constants do not agree with any single conformation demonstrating that the repeating subunit of the polysaccharide must be flexible. This conclusion is in accord with results of molecular modeling nuclear Overhauser effect and 3JCH data.