Exopolysaccharides produced by Inquilinus limosus, a new pathogen of cystic fibrosis patients: novel structures with usual components

The major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with cystic fibrosis, an autosomal recessive disorder, is chronic microbial colonisation of the major airways that leads to exacerbation of pulmonary infection. Several different microbes colonise cystic fibrosis lungs, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most threatening, since the establishment of mucoid (alginate producing) strains is ultimately associated with the patient's death. Very recently a new bacterium, named Inquilinus limosus, was repeatedly found infecting the respiratory tract of cystic fibrosis patients. Its multi-resistance characteristic to antibiotics might result in the spreading of I. limosus infection among the cystic fibrosis community, as recently happened with strains of the Burkholderia cepacia complex. Since exopolysaccharides are recognised as important virulence factors in lung infections, the primary structure of the polysaccharide produced by I. limosus strain LMG 20952(T) was investigated as the first step in understanding its role in pathogenesis. The structure was determined by means of methylation analysis, acid degradations, mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy. The results showed that the bacterium produced a mixture constituted of the following polymers: [3)-[4,6-O-(1-carboxyethylidene)]-beta-D-Glcp(1-->]n; [2)-[4,6-O-(1-carboxyethylidene)]-alpha-D-Manp(1-->]n. Both polymers were completely substituted with pyruvyl ketal groups, a novel structural characteristic not previously found in bacterial polysaccharides. The absolute configuration of all pyruvyl groups was S. Inspection of possible local conformations assumed by the two polysaccharide chains showed features, which might provide interesting clues for understanding structure-function relationships.