Effect of the HP0159 ORF mutation on the lipopolysaccharide structure and colonizing ability of Helicobacter pylori

The outer core region of Helicobacter pylori lipopolysaccharide of the majority of isolates contains an alpha-1,6-glucan polymer synthesized by the product of the HP0159 ORF. Structural studies carried out on HP0159 lipopolysaccharide mutants by a combination of chemical methods, mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy confirmed that insertional inactivation of HP0159 gene in H. pylori strains 26695 and SS1 resulted in formation of a truncated lipopolysaccharide molecule characterized by the presence of a terminal dd-heptose residue in the side-chain outer core fragment and maintaining an inner core backbone structure compared with the wild-type Lewis antigen-expressing strains. Colonization studies with HP0159 mutants of two mouse-colonizing strains, SS1 and M6, confirmed their inability to successfully colonize the murine stomach.