Chemical Structure of the Lipid A component of Pseudomonas sp. strain PAMC 28618 from Thawing Permafrost in Relation to Pathogenicity

Sci Rep. 2017 May 19;7(1):2168. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-02145-w.

Abstract

Climate change causes permafrost thawing, and we are confronted with the unpredictable risk of newly discovered permafrost microbes that have disease-causing capabilities. Here, we first characterized the detailed chemical structure of the lipid A moiety from a Pseudomonas species that was isolated from thawing arctic permafrost using MALDI-based mass spectrometric approaches (i.e., MALDI-TOF MS and MALDI-QIT-TOF MSn). The MALDI multi-stage mass spectrometry (MS) analysis of lipid A extracted from the Pseudomonas sp. strain PAMC 28618 demonstrated that the hexaacyl lipid A ([M-H]- at m/z 1616.5) contains a glucosamine (GlcN) disaccharide backbone, two phosphates, four main acyl chains and two branched acyl chains. Moreover, the lipid A molecule-based structural activity relationship with other terrestrial Gram-negative bacteria indicated that strain PAMC 28618 has an identical lipid A structure with the mesophilic Pseudomonas cichorii which can cause rot disease in endive (Cichorium endivia) and that their bacterial toxicities were equivalent. Therefore, the overall lipid A validation process provides a general strategy for characterizing bacteria that have been isolated from arctic permafrost and analyzing their respective pathogenicities.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Lipid A / chemistry*
  • Molecular Structure
  • Permafrost / microbiology*
  • Phenotype
  • Phylogeny
  • Plant Diseases
  • Pseudomonas / classification
  • Pseudomonas / pathogenicity
  • Pseudomonas / physiology*
  • Soil Microbiology*
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
  • Structure-Activity Relationship

Substances

  • Lipid A