Utilization of fructose and ribose in lipopolysaccharide synthesis by Veillonella parvula.

Veillonella parvula, which cannot ferment or incorporate most sugars, incorporated radioactivity from [14C]ribose and [14C]fructose into cellular lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the presence of lactate as an energy source. It was shown that virtually all of the fructose carbon which was assimilated into LPS material appeared in hydrophilic LPS components, and almost none was assimilated into fatty acid LPS components. The assimilation of lactate carbon into LPS in the presence of fructose was shifted from the hydrophilic toward the fatty acid components.