Alkali-insoluble cellulose and water-soluble polysaccharide production by wild-type Acetobacter xylinum colony and liquid cultures was investigated. The mass of cellulose exceeded that of soluble polysaccharides in liquid cultures while the reverse situation occurred in colony cultures. The soluble polysaccharide fraction, 3 × 10 5 to 5 × 10 5 in molecular weight, was found by DEAE-Sephacel chromatography to be a complex of several acidic, nitrogenfree polysaccharides. One acidic polysaccharide was predominant in the complex, and gas–liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry showed this to contain glucose, rhamnose, mannose, and glucuronic acid in molar ratio of 6:1:1:1, respectively. 13 C and 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance spectra are presented for this major polysaccharide component. Several minor, soluble, acidic polysaccharides were related in chemical composition to the major soluble polymer. The relation of these soluble polysaccharides to cellulose biogenesis is discussed.
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