The O7 antigen of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is a linear D-rhamnan with a trisaccharide repeating unit that is also present in polymers for some Pseudomonas and Burkholderia species

Abstract

The O antigen polymer recovered from the reference strain for Stenotrophomonas (Xanthomonas or Pseudomonas) maltophilia serogroup O7, after mild acid hydrolysis of the lipopolysaccharide, was constructed from D-rhamnose. By means of chemical degradations and NMR studies, the repeating unit of the polymer was shown to be a linear trisaccharide with the structure -->2)-alpha-D-Rhap-(1-->3)-alpha-D-Rhap-(1-->3)-alpha-D-R hap-(1-->. The same repeating unit is present in the common antigen of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and in O antigens from some pathovars of Pseudomonas syringae and a strain of Burkholderia (Pseudomonas) cepacia.