Gordonan,an Acidic Polysaccharide with Cell Aggregation-Inducing Activity in Insect BM-N4 Cells,Produced by Gordonia sp.

An acidic polysaccharide, termed gordonan, was isolated from the culture medium of Gordonia sp. as an inducer of cell aggregation in an insect cell line, BM-N4. Gordonan had an average molecular weight of 5×10⁶ and its structure was identified as →3)-4-O-(1-carboxyethyl)-β-D-Manp-(1→4)-β-D-GlcAp-(1→4)-β-D-Glcp-(1→ mainly by acid hydrolysis experiments and NMR analysis. It induces cell aggregation at the concentration of 4 μg/ml. A partially hydrolyzed polysaccharide derived from gordonan with a molecular weight of 5×10⁵ showed weak activity, while any fragment molecules with lower molecular weights prepared from gordonan showed no activity.