Isolation and structural analysis of polysaccharide containing galactofuranose from the cell walls of Bifidobacterium infantis.

We isolated cell wall polysaccharides (PS-1 and PS-2) from Bifidobacterium infantis Reuter ATCC 15697 and found that the backbone of PS-2 is-->3)-beta-D-Galf-(1-->3)-alpha-D-Galp- (1-->in which beta-D-Galf and alpha-D-Galp are partially substituted at O-6 with beta-D-Glcp. This is the first report of the presence of this disaccharide backbone in a gram-positive bacterium; it resembles the O antigen of some bacteria.