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Beginning at 16 weeks of age and continuing for 44 weeks, male C57BL/6J were fed either a control (CON) diet; a high-fat (HF) diet (60% unsaturated); or the HF diet containing an extract of unripe avocados (AvX) enriched in the 7-carbon sugar mannoheptulose (MH), designed to act as a glycolytic inhibitor (HF + MH). Compared to the CON diet, mice on the HF diet exhibited higher body weights; body fat; blood lipids; and leptin with reduced adiponectin levels, insulin sensitivity, VO2max, and falls from a rotarod. Mice on the HF + MH diet were completely protected against these changes in the absence of significant diet effects on food intake. Compared to the CON diet, oxidative stress was also increased by the HF diet indicated by higher levels of total reactive oxygen species, superoxide, and peroxynitrite measured in liver samples by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, whereas the HF + MH diet attenuated these changes. Compared to the CON, the HF diet increased signaling in the mechanistic target of the rapamycin (mTOR) pathway, and the addition of the MH-enriched AvX to this diet attenuated these changes. Beyond generating further interest in the health benefits of avocados, these results draw further new attention to the effects of this rare sugar, MH, as a botanical intervention for preventing obesity.

Structural elucidation of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from three nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae clinical isolates, 1209, 1207 and 1233 was achieved using NMR spectroscopy and ESI-MS on O-deacylated LPS and core oligosaccharide (OS) material as well as ESI-MS(n) on permethylated dephosphorylated OS. It was found that the organisms expressed a tremendous heterogeneous glycoform mixture resulting from the variable length of the OS chains attached to the common structural element of H. influenzae, L-alpha-D-Hepp-(1-->2)-[PEtn-->6]-L-alpha-D-Hepp-(1-->3)-[beta-D-Glcp-(1-->4)]-L-alpha-D-Hepp-(1-->5)-[PPEtn-->4]-alpha-Kdop-(2-->6)-Lipid A. Notably, the O-6 position of the beta-D-Glcp residue could either be occupied by PCho or L-glycero-D-manno-heptose (L,D-Hep), which is a location for L,D-Hep that has not been seen previously in H. influenzae LPS. The outer-core L,D-Hep residue was further chain elongated at the O-6 position by the structural element beta-D-GalpNAc-(1-->3)-alpha-D-Galp-(1-->4)-beta-D-Galp, or sequentially truncated versions thereof. The distal heptose residue in the inner-core was found to be chain elongated at O-2 by the globotetraose unit, beta-D-GalpNAc-(1-->3)-alpha-D-Galp-(1-->4)-beta-D-Galp-(1-->4)-beta-D-Glcp, or sequentially truncated versions thereof. Investigation of LPS from an lpsA mutant of isolate 1233 and a lic1 mutant of isolate 1209 was also performed, which aside from confirming the functions of the gene products, simplified elucidation of the OS extending from the proximal heptose (the lpsA mutant), and showed that the organism exclusively expresses LPS glycoforms comprising the outer-core l,d-Hep residue when PCho is not expressed (the lic1 mutant).

This paper reports the application of near-infrared (NIR) reflectance spectroscopy to determine the concentration in honey of perseitol, a sugar that is specific to avocado honey. Reference values for perseitol were obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography analysis in 109 honey samples. Although the average concentration of perseitol in honey samples was only 0.48%, accurate prediction equations were successfully developed. The regression model of modified partial least squares was superior to that of principal component regressions. Calibrations based on the first or second derivative of Log(1/R) were equally good (R(2) > 0.95). Using half of the samples for calibration and the second half for validation, the correlation between actual and predicted values of the second half was satisfactory (R(2) = 0.87), the slope did not differ from 1, bias was low (0.005%), and the standard error of prediction was relatively low (0.13%). It was concluded that NIRS analysis may be used to detect to what extent honeybees have harvested avocado nectar but not to authenticate avocado honey as unifloral.

Synthesis of the title trisaccharide was accomplished by sugar chain extension starting from the non-reducing terminus: coupling of Glcp NAc with LD-Hepp, then adding Glcp-OAll. An alternative route started from the reducing end: coupling of LD-Hepp with Glcp-OAll, then addition of Glcp NAc. In the synthesis of the title disaccharide a modification of the first approach was employed. The allyl glycosides were coupled with cysteamine, activated with thiophosgene and conjugated to bovine serum albumin (BSA). The neoglycoconjugates obtained were used in immunochemical studies of monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies directed against Escherichia coli K-12 lipopolysaccharide.

Syntheses are described of the tetrasaccharide 2-(4-trifluoroacetamidophenyl)ethyl O-(beta-D-galactopyranosyl)-(1-->2)-O- (L-glycero-alpha-D-manno-heptopyranosyl)-(1-->2)-O-(L-glycero-alpha-D- manno-heptopyranosyl)-(1-->3)-L-glycero-alpha-D-manno-heptopyranoside (20) and the three trisaccharides 2-(4-trifluoroacetamidophenyl)ethyl O-(L-glycero-alpha-D-manno-heptopyranosyl)-(1-->2)-O-(L-glycero-alpha-D- manno-heptopyranosyl)-(1-->3)-L-glycero-alpha-D-manno-heptopyranoside (17), 2-(4-trifluoroacetamidophenyl)ethyl O-(beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-(1-->4)- O-(beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-(1-->4)-L-glycero-alpha-D-manno-heptopyrano side (5), and 2-(4-trifluoro-acetamidophenyl)ethyl O-(beta-D-galactopyranosyl)-(1-->4)-O-(beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-(1-->4)- L-glycero-alpha-D-manno-heptopyranoside (8), corresponding to structures found in the lipooligosaccharides of Haemophilus influenzae.

1. A singly branched heptaose produced as a limit dextrin in the digest of beta-limit dextrin with liquefying alpha-amylase [EC 3.2.1.1] of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens was isolated in a paper chromatographically pure state. 2. Analysis using several enzymes revealed that the isolated branched dextrin was a mixture of six singly branched heptaoses with different ramifying points. 3. All the branched heptaoses contained a 62-alpha-maltosylmaltotriose moiety in their molecules, differing only in the mode of attachment of one maltose or two glucose residues by alpha-1,4-glucosidic bonds from this core dextrin. 4. The formation of various singly branched heptaoses (the present paper) and hexaoses (the previous paper) is discussed regarding the attack site specificity of the enzyme on beta-limit dextrin.

Methylation analysis of the core oligosaccharide of the Proteus mirabilis mutant R4 (derived from serotype 028 was carried out in order to obtain information on the internal (glucose-heptose) region of the P. mirabilis R core. The isolated core oligosaccharide was composed of glucose, L-glycero-D-manno-heptose, 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonic acid (dOclA) and phosphorus in a molar ratio of about 1:2:1:1.4. It was methylated either directly or after dephosphorylation. To localize the position of the phosphate substituents, the permethylated product was dephosphorylated with hydrogen fluoride and the oligosaccharide obtained was remethylated using C2H3I. Location of phosphate at C-7 of the terminal heptose was shown by isolation of the sugar phosphate from partial hydrolysates and gas-liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry of the permethylated product. Combining the data of the methylation analysis with the data of an NMR study allows one to formulate the structure of the core oligosaccharide as folllows: (formula: see text).

The composition of the cell envelope of a heptose-deficient lipopolysaccharide mutant of Escherichia coli, GR467, was studied after fractionation into its outer and cytoplasmic membrane components by means of sucrose density gradient centrifugation. The outer membrane of GR467 had a lower density than that of its parent strain, CR34. Analysis of the fractionated membranes of GR467 indicated that the phospholipid-to-protein ratio had increased 2.4-fold in the outer membrane. The ratio in the mutant cytoplasmic membrane was also increased, although to a lesser extent. By employing a third parameter, the lipid A content of the outer membrane, it was found that the observed phospholipid-to-protein change in the outer membrane was due predominantly to a decrease in the relative amount of protein. This decrease in protein was particularly significant, since it was concomitant with a 68% decrease in the lipid A recovered in the outer membrane of GR467 relative to the lipid A recovered in the outer membrane of CR34. Similar findings were observed in a second heptose-deficient mutant of E. coli, RC-59. The apparent protein deficiency in GR467 was further studied by subjecting solubilized envelope proteins to sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. It was found that major envelope proteins which were localized in the outer membrane were greatly diminished in GR467. Two revertants of GR467 with the wild-type amounts of heptose had wild-type relative levels of protein in their outer membranes. A partial heptose revertant had a relative level of protein in its outer membrane between those of the mutant and wild type.

There is a common structure (core region) in the lipopolysaccharides of Rhodospirillum tenue. It is composed of a branched trisaccharide of L-glycero-D-mannoheptose (and of 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate), as revealed by methylation analyses of degraded polysaccharides of four different R. tenue strains. The structure is similar or might even be identical to the inner core of enterobacterial O antigens. In addition, each of the four R. tenue lipopolysaccharides contains a strain-specific region that consists of heptose(s) (L-glycero-D-mannoheptose or D-glycero-D-mannoheptose or both) or hexoses. There is a partial substitution of the core region and the strain-specific region by phosphorus, showing microheterogeneity.

Lipopolysaccharides (LPS, O-antigens) of 12 strains of the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas gelatinosa were obtained by the phenol/chloroform/petroleum ether method, recommended for extracting lipophilic glycolipids of enterobacterial R-mutants. All R. gelatinosa LPS have essentially the same chemical composition. Similar to LPS of Salmonella R-mutants of chemotypes Rd1 and Rd2, the sole neutral sugar constituent is an aldoheptose. The heptose of R. gelatinosa LPS has the D-glycero-D-manno- configuration, in contrast to the L-glycero-D-mannoheptose of enterobacterial LPS. 2-Keto-3-deoxyoctonate forms the acid-labile linkage between the lipid moiety (lipid A) and the oligosaccharide moiety of R. gelatinosa LPS. Like enterobacterial lipid A, lipid A of this species contains phosphate and D-glucosamine as the sole amino sugar. The fatty acid spectrum conprises beta-hydroxycapric, lauric, and myristic acids. Beta-Hydroxymyristic acid, the typical fatty acid of enterobacterial LPS, is lacking. The R. gelatinosa LPS show O-antigenic acitivity; passive hemagglutinations with untreated or heat-treated (not well alkali-treated) LPS and antisera prepared against heat-killed cells yield high titers. According to the serological cross-reactions observed, the LPS of the 12 strains could be arranged into two different serotypes: serotype I comprising strains 29/1, 29/2, 25/2, and serotype II comprising strains 44/K/6, 3/1, IS/10, 39/2, Dr2, 2150, P8P9, K32, P18f3.1. No serological cross-reactions were observed between LPS of these two different serotypes in passive hemagglutinations.

Quantification of phosphorylated sugar constituents of lipopolysaccharides has been performed by the following sequence: dephosphorylation by treatment with hydrofluoric acid, cleavage to monomeric constituents by methanolysis and analysis of the released sugars by capillary gas chromatography. Lipopolysaccharides of Salmonella minnesota Rd1P+, Bordetella pertussis NIH 114 and Vibrio cholerae, NAG and 95R strains, were used as model substances. Comparison of the chromatographic data obtained from hydrofluoric acid-treated and untreated lipopolysaccharide preparations indicated that all lipopolysaccharides examined contained one moiety of glucosamine bound to phosphate in a stable linkage. 2-Keto-3-deoxyoctonic acid appeared phosphorylated to a variable extent. Lipopolysaccharides of the two V. cholerae strains contained one moiety of fully phosphorylated 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonic acid, whereas in that of S. minnesota Rd1P+ only one of the three moieties was phosphorylated. Lipopolysaccharide of B. pertussis had one moiety of 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonic acid, ca. 70% phosphorylated. All four of the preparations examined contained L-glycero-D-manno-heptose in amounts varying from 2.6 to 5.2 moieties. In the lipopolysaccharides of B. pertussis and strain 95R of V. cholerae this sugar was unphosphorylated, whereas the two remaining strains contained one phosphorylated moiety of this sugar. Phosphorylated lipopolysaccharide constituents can be analysed by this approach on a 50-100 micrograms scale.

A modified methylation analysis is described which allows the elucidation of the structure of the inner core region [heptose/3-deoxy-D-manno-2-octulosonic acid (KDO)] of enterobacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS) of Salmonella minnesota rough mutants (Re, strain R595; and Rd2P-, strain R4). Methylation, carboxyl-reduction, remethylation, hydrolysis, carbonyl-reduction, and acetylation of the Re-mutant LPS yielded the 2,6-di-O-acetyl and 2,4,6-tri-O-acetyl derivatives of partially methylated 3-deoxyoctitol in equimolar amounts, indicating the presence of a terminal and a 4-linked pyranosidic KDO residue. For Rd2P- LPS, the hydrolysis step involved 0.1M trifluoroacetic acid at 100 degrees for 1 h which cleaved ketosidic linkages, and the final products included the foregoing acetyl derivatives in the molar ratio of 1:02 and a partially methylated and acetylated 3-deoxyoctitol derivative which was substituted at O-5 by a methylated heptopyranosyl residue. Trideuteriomethylation of the latter product followed by methanolysis and acetylation gave 5-O-acetyl-3-deoxy-1,7,8-tri-O-methyl-2,4,6-tri-O-trideuteriomethyl++ +-D- glycero-D-talo/galacto-octitol and 1,5-di-O-acetyl-2,3,4,6,7-penta-O-methyl-L-glycero-D-manno-heptitol++ +. These results prove the presence of a (2----4)-linked KDO disaccharide in Re LPS and show that the core region of Rd2P- LPS contains a terminal alpha-L-glycero-D-manno-heptopyranosyl group and a non-substituted, a 4-O-, and a 4,5-di-O-substituted pyranosidic KDO residue in the molar ratios 1:1:0.2:1.

A pentaglycosyl diglyceride with the tentative structure of galactosyl-galactosyl-mannoheptosyl-glucosyl-glucosyl diglyceride was found to be the major glycolipid in Acholeplasma modicum. The heptose is d-glycero-d-mannoheputose. The diglyceride-terminating moiety possesses the structure O-alpha-d-glucopyranosyl-(1 --> 2)-O-alpha-d-glucopyranosyl-sn-1,2-diglyceride. Other glycolipids occurring in this organism are a diglucosyl diglyceride and a monoglucosyl diglyceride with structures identical to the terminal segments of the pentaglycosyl diglyceride. More fully acylated derivatives of these two glycolipids also occur. The phospholipids are all of the glycerophosphoryl type. The neutral lipids are composed of diglycerides and four polyterpenes. The polyterpenes consist of both colored and colorless carotenoids and become radiolabeled with both [(14)C]acetate and [(14)C]mevalonate.

Lipopolysaccharide components 3-deoxy-D-manno-2-octulosonic acid and L-glycero-D-manno-heptose were detected in hydrolysates from whole cells of Neisseria elongata by gas-liquid chromatography. Cells from a single plate were hydrolyzed, and carbohydrate components were converted to aldononitrile and O-methyloxime acetate derivatives for subsequent analyses by gas-liquid chromatography. 3-Deoxy-D-manno-2-octulosonic acid was well separated from other cell components as the O-methyloxime acetate derivative. With both derivatives, L-glycero-D-manno-heptose was readily identified by their different retention times. The procedure requires only a relatively small number of cells, and detection is accomplished without prior isolation of the lipopolysaccharide.

Mutants resistant to several hydrophobic membrane antagonists were isolated from a "deep rough" (rfaC) mutant of Salmonella typhimurium. The resistance was due to an alteration in the core region lipopolysaccharide composition as evidenced by altered bacteriophage and complement sensitivity and by compositional analysis. The principal change in carbohydrate composition was the predominance of the unusual heptose isomer D-glycero-D-manno-heptose. The unusually wide pleiotropic phenotype of this organism is suggested to be due to a fundamental change in the properties of the bacterial outer membrane.

The heptose region of the lipopolysaccharides (LPS) of Pasteurella multocida consists of the trisaccharide L Hep 1----2 L Hep 1----3 L Hep or L Hep 1----3 L Hep 1----2 L Hep. This trisaccharide and the oligosaccharide consisting of 3 moles heptose and 1 mole glucose were isolated from the LPS of the strain D 33. The data suggest that the LPS biosynthesis of P. multocida is different from that of Salmonella spp.

The polysaccharide antigen of Eubacterium saburreum strains L76, reacting by precipitation and complement-fixation, has D-glycero-D-galacto-heptose as the main component, and, in addition, O-acyl groups.

Well-characterized Salmonella mutants formerly used in biosynthetic studies of lipopolysaccharides were used to study the toxic portion of the complex endotoxin. Endotoxins prepared from wild types and their mutants were tested for their biological activities, including pyrogenicity, lethality, and immunogenicity. There was little difference either in the endotoxin yields or in the toxicities between endotoxins from the wild-type and O-antigen deficient mutants. Endotoxin containing mostly lipid A and keto-deoxyoctonate (KDO) prepared from the mutant deficient in both O- and R-antigens and the backbone sugar, heptose, was biologically active. Possibly because of the difference in solubility in water, the yield of endotoxin from the heptoseless mutant was about 10% of the wild type. There was complete reciprocal cross-immunity between all endotoxins tested. These observations suggest that the common toxic moiety is not present in the O- and R-polysaccharides or the backbone sugar heptose, but rather is associated with the lipid portion of the molecule which includes mostly lipid A and KDO.

Genetic and biochemical evidence that sedoheptulose-7-phosphate is an obligatory precursor of the L-glycero-D-mannoheptose residues of the lipopolysaccharide of Salmonella was obtained by isolation and characterization of transketolase-negative mutants of Salmonella typhimurium. These mutants, which are defective in synthesis of sedoheptulose-7-phosphate, were found to produce an incomplete heptose-deficient lipopolysaccharide, and were also sensitive to bile salts, a characteristic property of heptose-deficient mutants. Phenotypic repair of the defect in lipopolysaccharide synthesis was obtained by addition of exogenous sedoheptulose-7-phosphate to growing cultures of the mutant strains. Characterization of revertants isolated either as transketolase-positive or heptose-positive provided further evidence that the heptose deficiency resulted from mutation at the transketolase locus. On the basis of these findings a possible pathway for conversion of sedoheptulose-7-phosphate to L-glycero-D-mannoheptose is proposed.