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Last Update:
January 08, 2007
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founded in
1959 by Professor Nikolay K. Kochetkov
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Research of the group is primarily concerned with the chemistry of bacterial surface polysaccharide antigens from the standpoints of elucidation of their structures and correlation between the structure and the specificity of immunologic reactions to the polysaccharides. The most projects focus on the determination of full structures of the O-specific polysaccharides of the lipopolysaccharides and aim at the creation of the chemical basis for the classification of the bacteria. The core region of the lipopolysaccharides is studied for the chemotaxonomic purposes and with the goal of elucidating how its structure contributes to the immunospecificity and functioning of the lipopolysaccharide molecule. The structural data will be critical for the development of new diagnostic agents and vaccines against bacterial pathogens.
Reserach interests of the group include studies of the lipopolysaccharides of medically important Gram-negative bacteria, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, enteric bacteria (Proteus, Providencia, Hafnia, Citrobacter), the gastric bacterium Helicobacter pylori, the Legionnaire's disease bacterium Legionella pneumophila and the cause of plague Yersinia pestis), as well as phytopathogenic bacteria (Pseudomonas syringae, Xanthomonas campestris) and marine bacteria (Shewanella, Pseudoalteromonas).
In the polysaccharides studied, Dr. Y. A. Knirel and his coworkers have identified a number of new sugars (e.g., 2,3-diamino-2,3-dideoxyhexuronic and 5,7-diamino-3,5,7,9-tetradeoxynonulosonic acids) and non-sugar components linked to amino groups of amino sugars, carboxyl groups of hexuronic acids and to phosphate groups.
New chemical approaches to structural analysis of complex polysaccharides have been elaborated, including selective cleavage of glycosidic linkages using solvolysis with anhydrous hydrogen fluoride and trifluoromethanesulfonic (triflic) acid. In cooperation with Dr. A. S. Shashkov and
Dr. G. M. Lipkind, new methods for the determination of the absolute configurations of sugars and the elucidation of regular polysaccharide structures have been developed based on regularities in the 13C-NMR chemical shifts. |
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Main
Research Areas of the Laboratory:
Structure Determination
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Biosynthetic Studies
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Research on enzymes involved
in biosynthesis of bacterial polysaccharides has long been
one of the main interests of the laboratory. The study of
the substrate specificity of glycosyl transferases and
chemical-enzymatic synthesis of
Salmonella polysaccharides are just a few examples.
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Chemical Synthesis
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Physico-Chemical Studies
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Chemical synthesis of complex carbohydrates and other compounds
involved in biosynthesis of carbohydrates has been in the focus of
the laboratory activities from the very beginning. The
interests have been ranging from the chemical synthesis of
mono-, oligo- and polysaccharides and their derivatives to
the use of carbohydrates as the source of chirality in the
synthesis of natural compounds such as macrocyclic
antibiotics. Quite a few new synthetic methods originated
from the laboratory. Learn more...
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Along with traditional uses of physico-chemical methods such as NMR
spectroscopy and mass spectrometry for characterization of
"isolated" carbohydrate molecules and study of their
conformations, new approaches are being developed for the
study of intermolecular interactions of carbohydrate
derivatives in solutions. Learn more...
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