Anionic polymers of the cell wall of Brevibacterium linens VKM Ac-2159

Unsubstituted 1,3-poly(glycerol phosphate) and two sugar-1-phosphate polymers were identified in the cell wall of Brevibacterium linens VKM Ac-2159 by NMR spectroscopy and chemical methods. A monomer of one of the sugar-1-phosphate polymers has the branched repeating unit of the following structure: -4)-[beta-D-GlcpNAc-(1-->3)]-alpha-D-Glcp-(1-P-. The repeating unit of another sugar-1-phosphate polymer has a linear structure consisting of alternating beta- and alpha-N-acetylglucosamine residues: -4)-beta-D-GlcpNAc-(1-->6)-alpha-D-GlcpNAc-(1-P-. Some part of the beta-N-acetylglucosaminyl residues bear O-ester-bound succinic acid residues at C-3. The identified sugar-1-phosphate polymers have not been described earlier in cell walls of other bacteria.