The Diaminohexose Component of a Polysaccharide Isolated from Bacillus subtilis

Abstract

During the study of the acid hydrolysate of a polysaccharide from BtiZZus subtilis (3), the hexosamine fraction (4) was found to give an unidentified spot on paper chromatograms.Its color reactions were typical for an amino sugar, but it moved at a faster rate than glucosamine or galactosamine.Furthermore, degradat,ion with ninhydrin (5) afforded a reducing product possessing a RF higher than that of unsubstituted pentoses or deoxypentoses (6).The present paper describes the isolation of the amino sugar and its identification as a diimino-trideoxy-hexose. METHODS AnuZyticaZ ProceduresHexosamineswere estimated by the Garde11 modification (7) of the Elson and Morgan procedure.Reducing sugar tests were run by the method of Somogyi (8), with the use of a lO-minute heating time, and the color reagent of Nelson (9).Free amino groups were assayed by the ninhydrin method of Cocking and Yemm (10) and by the alkaline distillation method of Tracey (11).Glucosamine hydrochloride (c.p., Pfanstiehl) was used as a standard.