Abstract
We report on comprehensive structure characterization of lipid A extracted from Yersinia pestis (Yp) for determination of its phosphorylation configuration that was achieved by combining the methods of molecular biology with high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry. The phosphorylation pattern of diphosphorylated lipid A extracted from Yp has recently been found to be a heterogeneous mixture of C-1 and C-4′ bisphosphate, C-1 pyrophosphate, and C-4′ pyrophosphate (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2008, 105, 12742). To reduce the inherent phosphate heterogeneity of diphosphorylated lipid A extracted from Yp, we incorporated specific C-1 and C-4′ position phosphatases into wild type KIM6+ Yp grown at 37°C. Comprehensive high-resolution tandem mass spectrometric analyses of lipid A extracted from Yp modified with either the C-1 or C-4′ phosphatase allowed for unambiguous structure assignment of monophosphorylated and diphosphorylated lipid A and distinction of isomeric bisphosphate and pyrophosphate forms. The prevalent aminoarabinose modification was determined to be exclusively attached to the lipid A disaccharide via a phospho-diester linkage at either or both the C-1 and C-4′ positions.
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Jones, J.W., Cohen, I.E., Tureĉek, F. et al. Comprehensive structure characterization of lipid a extracted from Yersinia pestis for determination of its phosphorylation configuration. J Am Soc Mass Spectrom 21, 785–799 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasms.2010.01.008
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasms.2010.01.008