The Lipopolysaccharide of Free-living and Bacteroid Forms of Rhizobium leguminosarum

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Abstract
The lipopolysaccharide of free-living R. leguminosarum was isolated and purified, and its homogeneity was determined by gel electrophoresis and, after mild acid degradation, by gel filtration. On electrophoresis, 2 molecular species were observed. After acid degradation and gel filtration, 3 components could be isolated: one was very rich in glucose, one contained 2-O-methylfucose, fucose, mannose, galactose, glucose, L-glycero-D-manno-heptose, 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonic acid, L-alanine, quinovosamine and uronic acids, and the 3rd component consisted of low MW material. In the lipid A fraction, D-glucosamine, .beta.-hydroxymyristic acid, .beta.-hydroxypalmitic acid and .beta.-hydroxystearic acid were detected as major components. The P content was low. No major chemical differences were observed in the neutral sugar and fatty acid compositions of the lipopolysaccharides isolated from bacteria and bacteroids. The lipopolysaccharide of bacteroids was lost rapidly during isolation from the nodules and on dialysis, and behaved anomalously during ultracentrifugation.