Structural studies of the exopolysaccharide consisting of a nonasaccharide repeating unit isolated from Lactobacillus rhamnosus KL37B Original Research Article

A novel structure of exopolysaccharide from the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) Lactobacillus rhamnosus KL37B, from the human intestinal flora, is described. During the structural investigation of the exopolysaccharide it was found that the repeating unit is a nonasaccharide, which is the largest repeating unit found in LAB exopolysaccharides to date. The polysaccharide material was prepared by TCA extraction of a bacterial cell mass, purified by anion-exchange and gel permeation chromatography and characterized using chemical and enzymatic methods. On the basis of monosaccharide and methylation analysis and also 1D and 2D 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy the exopolysaccharide was shown to be composed of the following nonasaccharide repeating unit: