Pseudomonas antigens.

Objectives of the project are the structural analysis, chemical synthesis and immunochemical characterization of phosphorylated oligosaccharides ocurring in the core region of Pseudomonas lipopolysaccharides. The main structural target resides in the highly phosphorylated heptose-region containing triphosphate- and 2-aminoethyl-diphosphate residues of unknown location. One of the heptose units carries a 7-O-carbamoyl residue, which constitutes a group-specific antigen for human pathogenic species (RNA-group I). The immunochemical and taxonomic relevance of the carbamoyl-substituted heptose residue and the adjacent galctosamine moiety will be studied using synthetic antigens.