TITLE:
Lipopolysaccharides in Cyanobacteria: A Brief Overview
AUTHORS:
Sabrina Gemma, Monica Molteni, Carlo Rossetti
KEYWORDS:
Cyanobacteria, Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), Lipid A
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Microbiology,
Vol.6 No.5,
April
29,
2016
ABSTRACT: Cyanobacteria are an interesting group of photosynthetic prokaryotes with a great potential in
drug discovery and scientific research. Due to their high degree of diversification, they have been
able to adapt to almost all ecological niches. Similarly to Gram-negative bacteria, cyanobacterial
cell wall contains Lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) in the outer membrane layer. LPSs are molecules
that possess the ability to elicit an innate immune response via Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) activation.
Cyanobacterial LPSs have been studied to a minor extent compared to Gram-negative bacterial
LPSs. However, available data revealed important differences between the LPSs of these two
groups of organisms, both in term of structure and biological activity. This review summarizes the
current knowledge about cyanobacterial LPSs, highlighting their peculiarity and their potentiality
compared to more characterized bacterial LPSs.