Studies on the O-antigen of Hafnia alvei PCM 1224 structurally and serologically related to the O-antigen of H. alvei 481-L Original Research Article

Mild hydrolysis of the lipopolysaccharide of Hafnia alvei PCM 1224 at pH 4.2 cleaved partially the O-polysaccharide chain by the glycosyl phosphate linkages to yield a phosphorylated hexasaccharide representing the repeating unit of the O-polysaccharide and higher oligosaccharides consisting of two or more repeating units. Studies of the degradation products before and after dephosphorylation by sugar and methylation analyses along with 1D and 2D 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, including 2D 1H,1H COSY, TOCSY, ROESY, 1H,13C HSQC, HSQC-TOCSY, and 1H,31P HMBC experiments, enabled elucidation of the following structure of the O-polysaccharide: