45 μm Acrodisc LGK-974 molecular weight (Pall) filters prior to chromatographic analysis. HPAEC-PAD was performed with a Dionex ICS3000 equipped with a CarboPac PA10 column (4 × 250 mm) coupled with PA10 guard column (4 × 50 mm). Separation of the sugars was performed with a flow rate of 1 ml/min eluting in a gradient from 10 mM NaOH to 18 mM NaOH over 20 min. After washing for 20 min with 100 mM AcONa in 28 mM NaOH, the column was re-equilibrated with 10 mM NaOH for 20 min. The effluent was monitored using an electrochemical detector in the pulse amperometric mode with a gold working electrode and an Ag/AgCl reference electrode. The Dionex standard quadruple-potential waveform for carbohydrates was used. The resulting chromatographic

data were processed Y 27632 using Chromeleon software 6.8. Calibration curves were built for each sugar monomer (0.5–10 μg/ml). The standards were hydrolysed and analysed in the same way as the samples. For GlcNAc, glucosamine (GlcN) was the species detected by HPAEC-PAD after hydrolysis. 1H NMR analysis was performed to estimate the O-acetylation level.

It was also used to confirm the identity of the OAg samples (typical signals of the OAg chain can be detected, confirming the presence of the characteristic sugars) and in particular for calculating the molar ratio of Rha to abequose (Abe) by comparing the integrals of the two peaks corresponding to Rha-H6 and Abe-H6. The dried OAg sample was subsequently solubilized

in deuterium oxide (D2O) and transferred to a 5 mm NMR tube. A first spectrum was collected in D2O and a second one Farnesyltransferase after de-O-acetylation achieved by adding sodium deuteroxide (NaOD) to a final 200 mM concentration and heat treatment (37 °C for 2 h for complete de-O-acetylation). The first 1H NMR spectrum was recorded to ensure the absence of impurities at the same chemical shift of the acetate anion released after de-O-acetylation of the sample that would interfere with the quantification of the O-acetyl content. O-acetylation level was quantified by comparing acetate (released after treatment with NaOD) and Rha-H6 peaks, and expressed as molar % of O-acetyl with respect to OAg chain repeating units (based on Rha present only in the OAg chain at one sugar per repeating unit). NMR experiments were recorded at 25 °C on Varian VNMRS-500 spectrometer, equipped with a Pentaprobe. Acquisition time of 5 s, relaxation delay of 15 s and number of scans of 64 was set for the acquisition of the spectra. For data acquisition and processing VNMRJ ver. 2.2 rev. C and Mestrenova 6.1 (Mestrelab Research) were used respectively. 1-D proton NMR spectra were collected using a standard one-pulse experiment. Chemical shifts were referenced to hydrogen deuterium oxide (HDO) at 4.79 ppm (1 H). OAg samples were analysed by HPLC-SEC after derivatisation with semicarbazide to quantify α-ketoacid present at the terminus KDO.