A Second Outer-Core Region in Kiebsiella pneumoniae Lipopolysaccharide.

Up to now only one major type of core oligosaccharide has been found in the lipopolysaccharide of all Klebsiella pneumoniae strains analyzed. Applying a different screening approach, we identified a novel Klebsiella pneumoniae core (type 2). Both Klebsiella core types share the same inner core and the outer-core-proximal disaccharide, GlcN-(1,4)-GalA, but they differ in the GlcN substituents. In core type 2, the GlcpN residue is substituted at the O-4 position by the disaccharide β-Glcp(1–6)-α-Glcp(1, while in core type 1 the GlcpN residue is substituted at the O-6 position by either the disaccharide α-Hep(1–4)-α-Kdo(2 or a Kdo residue (Kdo is 3-deoxy-o-manno-octulosonic acid). This difference correlates with the presence of a three-gene region in the corresponding core biosynthetic clusters. Engineering of both core types by interchanging this specific region allowed studying the effect on virulence. The replacement of Klebsiella core type 1 in a highly type 2 virulent strain (52145) induces lower virulence than core type 2 in a murine infection model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]