Immunochemical studies of the lipopolysaccharide O‐specific polysaccharide of Hafnia alvei PCM 1199 related to H. alvei PCM 1205

On the basis of chemical analyses and NMR spectroscopic studies, it was found that the O‐specific polysaccharide (O‐PS) isolated from the Hafnia alvei PCM 1199 lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a glycerol teichoic‐acid‐like polymer having a repeating unit of the following structure : 3)‐β‐ D‐Quip4NAc‐(1←1)‐Gro3P‐(O←3)‐β‐ D‐Galp‐(1←3)‐α‐ D‐GlcpNAc‐(1← 2 6 ↑∣ 1 OAc β‐ D‐GlcpNAc 6 ∣ OAc where Qui4NAc is 4‐acetamido‐4,6‐dideoxyglucose and O‐acetylation at both positions is non‐stoichiometric. The glycosidic linkage of the lateral β‐ D‐GlcpNAc residue is acid‐labile and cleaved from the OPS during mild acid hydrolysis or dephosphorylation with 48 % hydrofluoric acid. Comparative analysis revealed that the structure of the H. alvei PCM 1199 O‐PS is similar to that of H. alvei PCM 1205, which differs in the presence of an additional lateral α‐ D‐Glcp residue and the position of one of the O‐acetyl groups only. Accordingly, serological tests revealed a high degree of serological similarity between LPSs and O‐PSs of the two H. alvei strains.