Structure of the high molecular weight exopolysaccharide produced by Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis IPLA-R1 and sequence analysis of its putative eps cluster

The bile adapted strain Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis IPLA-R1 secretes a high molecular weight exopolysaccharide (HMW-EPS) when grown on the surface of agar-MRSC. This EPS is composed of l-rhamnopyranosyl, d-glucopyranosyl, d-galactopyranosyl and d-galactofuranosyl residues in the ratio of 3:1:1:1. Linkage analysis and 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy were used to show that the EPS has a hexasaccharide repeating unit with the following structure: α-D-Galf(1→2)-α-L-Rhap 1 ↓ 2 →4)-β-D-Glcp-(1→3)-α-L-Rhap-(1→2)-α-L-Rhap- (1→4)-β-D-Galp-(1→ Treatment of the EPS with mild acid cleanly removed the terminal d-galactofuranosyl residue. The eps cluster sequenced for strain IPLA-R1 showed high genetic homology with putative eps clusters annotated in the genomes of strains from the same species. It is of note that several genes coding for rhamnose-precursors are present in the eps cluster, which could be correlated with the high percentage of rhamnose detected in its EPS repeated unit. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.This work was funded by the Spanish ‘Plan Nacional I+D+I’ from the ‘Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación’ (MICINN, FEDER funds from European Union) through the project AGL2009-09445 and by the University of Huddersfield. C.H.-C. acknowledges his FPI fellowship to MICINN.Peer Reviewe