Lipid A Structure and Immunoinhibitory Effect of the Marine Bacterium Cobetia pacifica KMM 3879T

The structural elucidation of lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) from Gram-negative marine bacteria, along with the assessment of their immunological properties, is a fascinating and active research field. Such studies can aid understanding of adaptation phenomena that occur in the marine environment, but they can also open up new perspectives on the design and development of new immunoregulatory drugs. In this paper, we report the structural characterization of the lipid A component of the LPS isolated from the marine bacterium Cobetia pacifica KMM 3879(T), which is characterized by a family of structures differing in their acylation patterns. The structural assignment was achieved through extensive chemical analysis and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry. Moreover, cellular immunology studies on the LPS highlighted its low immunostimulatory impact, as well as a very interesting and promising inhibitory activity of the toxic effects of Escherichia coli LPS.