252Cf plasma-desorption mass spectrometry of lipid A from Enterobacter agglomerans.

Endotoxins from gram-negative bacteria are believed to be causative agents of byssinosis, an occupational pulmonary disease associated with exposure to cotton dust in textile mills. Lipid A preparations from Enterobacter agglomerans, a gram-negative bacterium commonly found in cotton and cotton dust, have been analyzed using plasma-desorption mass spectrometry. Results indicate the existence of at least two lipid A types which differ only by the presence of an additional oxygen atom whose position has been localized to the acyloxyacyl ester-linked side-chain of the distal portion of the molecule. The lower molecular weight compound of the two structures has the same molecular weight and presumably the same empirical formula as a well-characterized lipid A from Salmonella minnesota. The mass spectra of lipid A compounds obtained from S. minnesota and E. agglomerans show strong similarities. Palmitoyl, hydroxymyristoyl, myristoyl, and lauroyl side-chains which are known to be present in the former are inferred from spectral evidence to be present in the latter.