0008-6215/$ see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.carres.2012.12.011 DOI of original article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.carres.2008.03.029 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +43 1 36006 6055; fax: +43 1 36006 6059. E-mail address: paul.kosma@boku.ac.at (P. Kosma). z Deceased May 2006. Present Address: Institute of Material Sciences, TU Vienna, Getreidemarkt 9, A-1060 Vienna, Austria. Bent O. Petersen , Margit Sara b,z, Christoph Mader , Harald F. Mayer , Uwe B. Sleytr , Martin Pabst , Michael Puchberger c, , Eberhard Krause , Andreas Hofinger , Jens O. Duus , Paul Kosma c,⇑

The secondary cell wall polymer (SCWP) from Geobacillus stearothermophilus PV72/p2, which is involved in the anchoring of the surface-layer protein to the bacterial cell wall layer, is composed of 2-amino-2-deoxy- and 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucose, 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-mannose, and 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-mannuronic acid. The primary structure of the acid-degraded polysaccharide-liberated by HF-treatment from the cell wall-was determined by high-field NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry using N-acetylated and hydrolyzed polysaccharide derivatives as well as Smith-degradation. The polysaccharide was shown to consist of a tetrasaccharide repeating unit containing a pyruvic acid acetal at a side-chain 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-alpha-D-mannopyranosyl, residue. Substoichiometric substitutions of the repeating unit were observed concerning the degree of N-acetylation of glucosamine residues and the presence of side-chain linked 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-beta-D-glucopyranosyl units:[GRAPHICS](C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.