Polysaccharide K4 expressed from E. coli K4 has a similar structure with chondroitin, which can be used as a precursor to produce chondroitin sulfates. Here, we investigated the structure, conformation and biological activity of K4 from an engineered strain with high productivity. The NMR analysis suggested that K4 from wild-type strain with a low yield was a partially fructosylated chondroitin. While K4 from engineered strain was a fully fructosylated chondroitin. Light scattering analysis gave the Mw values of 6.15 × 104, 8.23 × 104 and 1.92 × 104 for K4-1, K4-2 and defructosylated K4 (DK4), respectively. The exponents of functions <S2>z1/2 = f(Mw) were in the range of 0.643-0.608, suggesting a random coil conformation for K4 and DK4. And the random coils K4 easily self-assembled into sphere-like aggregates in the dilute aqueous solution. Both K4 and DK4 exhibited significant immunomodulatory activities on RAW 264.7 cells at the dosage range of 5-500 μg/mL.
Keywords: Chemical structure; Chondroitin; E. coli K4; Immunomodulatory activity; Molecular weight.
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