The structures of the cell wall teichoic acids from the thermophilic microorganism Geobacillus thermoleovorans strain Fango

The structures of two teichoic acid fractions (TA1 and TA2) isolated from the thermophilic Gram-positive bacterium Geobacillus thermoleovorans strain Fango were investigated by means of chemical and NMR spectroscopic methods. The most abundant species (TA1) exhibited a rather regular structure comprising two different repeating units of 1,3-glycerol phosphate non-stoichiometrically substituted by terminal-alpha-D-Galp (t-alpha-D-Galp). The second molecular species (TA2) presented a higher structural variability and t-alpha-D-Glcp and the disaccharides t-alpha-D-GlcpNAc-(1 -> 2)-alpha-D-Glcp and t-alpha-D-GlcpNAc-(1 -> 3)-alpha-D-Glcp were also present as minor substituents at O-2 of the glycerol phosphate residues. Minor substitution by alanine could also be detected. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.