Fragmentation analysis of extracellular acid polysaccharides from seven Rhizobium strains. Part I. D-glucuronic acid-containing oligosaccharides.

The extracellular, bacterial polysaccharides from seven Rhizobium strains have been submitted to partial hydrolysis with acid. Several neutral oligosaccharides, some containing pyruvic acid, were isolated together with D-glucuronic acid-containing oligosaccharides. The polysaccharide from Rh. meliloti did not contain glucuronic acid. For the other six strains, the following components were characterized: 4-O-(beta-D-glucopyranosyluronic acid)-D-glucuronic acid, 4-O-(beta-D-glucopyranosyluronic acid)-D-glucose, and O-(beta-D-glucopyranosyluronic acid)-(1leads to4)-O-(beta-D-glucopyranosyluronic acid)-(1leads to4)-D-glucose. These results indicate the presence of chains containing two beta-(1leads to4)-linked D-glucuronic acid residues, beta-linked to D-glucose at position 4.