New cell wall glycopolymers of the representatives of the genus Kribbella.

Each of the cell walls of four representatives of the genus Kribbella (order Actinomycetales; suborder Propionibacterineae; family Nocardioidaceae) contains a neutral polysaccharide and an acidic polysaccharide with unusual structures. Common to all four strains studied is a mannan with the following repeating unit: [structure: see text]. In the cell wall of the strain VKM Ac-2541, a teichulosonic acid was identified with a monosaccharide component that has not hitherto been found in Gram-positive bacteria, viz., pseudaminic acid, and an unusual linkage type in the polymeric chain, [structure: see text] where R=capital EN, Cyrillic (45%), alpha-D-Galp3OMe (37%) or alpha-D-Galp2,3OMe (18%). The anionic cell wall components of three other strains are represented by teichuronic acids with a rare constituent, viz., a diaminosugar, 2,3-diacetamido-2,3-dideoxyglucopyranose. The structures of their repeating units differ in the nature of the acidic components: -->4)-beta-D-Manp2,3NAcA-(1-->6)-alpha-D-Glcp2,3NAc-(1--> (VKM capital A, Cyrillicsmall es, Cyrillic-2538 and VKM capital A, Cyrillicsmall es, Cyrillic-2540) and -->4)-beta-D-ManpNAcA-(1-->6)-alpha-D-Glcp2,3NAc-(1--> (VKM capital A, Cyrillicsmall es, Cyrillic-2539). The structures of all the glycopolymers were established by chemical and NMR spectroscopic methods; they are identified in Gram-positive bacteria for the first time.