The K5 capsular polysaccharide of the bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii SDF with the same K unit containing Leg5Ac7Ac as the K7 capsular polysaccharide but a different linkage between the K units

The K5 capsular polysaccharide (CPS) was isolated from the bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) SDF and studied by 1D and 2D ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy before and after O-deacetylation and partial acid hydrolysis. The CPS was found to be composed of branched tetrasaccharide repeats (K units) containing 5,7-diacetamido-3,5,7,9-tetradeoxy-d-glycero-d-galacto-non-2-ulosonic acid (Leg5Ac7Ac). The KL5 capsule biosynthesis gene cluster at the K locus is consistent with the composition and structure of the CPS. KL5 is almost identical to the KL7 gene ulosonic acid (Leg5Ac7Ac A. baumannii LUH5533 that has been characterized earlier, and differs only in the gene for Wzy polymerase that is responsible for the formation of the linkage between the K units. The K5 CPS from strain SDF and the K7 CPS from strain LUH5533 have the same K-unit structure but a different linkage between the K units, which is formed by distinct Wzy polymerases. As opposite to Leg5Ac7Ac in the K7 CPS, this monosaccharide is O-acetylated at position 4 in the K5 CPS. No acetyltransferase for this modification of the K5 CPS is present in the KL5 gene cluster, and hence it is encoded by a gene located elsewhere in the genome.