Burkholderia cepacia is an opportunistic pathogen involved in pulmonary infections related to cystic fibrosis. A clinical strain, BTS13, was isolated and the production of exopolysaccharides was tested growing the bacteria on two different media, one of which was rich in mannitol as carbon source. The primary structure of the polysaccharides was determined using mostly mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy. On both media an exopolysaccharide having the following repeating unit was produced: -->5)-beta-Kdop-(2-->3)-beta-D-Galp2Ac-(1-->4)-alpha-D-Galp-(1-->3)-beta-D-Galp-(1--> This polysaccharide has already been described as the biosynthetic product of another Burkholderia species, B. pseudomallei, the microbial agent causing melioidosis. In addition to this, when grown on the mannitol-rich medium, B. cepacia strain BTS13 produced another polysaccharide that was established to be levan: -->6)-beta-D-Fruf-(2-->. The content of levan was about 20% (w/w) of the total amount of polymers. The ability of B. cepacia to produce these two exopolysaccharides opens new perspectives in the investigation of the role of polysaccharides in lung infections.
