The structure of an extracellular, water-soluble polysaccharide elaborated by the cariogenic Streptococcus mutans GS-5.
The extracellular, water-soluble polysaccharide elaborated by Streptococcus mutans GS-5 contains (1 leads to 6)- and (1 leads to 3,6)-linked alpha-D-glucopyranosyl residues. Its average repeating-unit contains 6 D-glucosyl residues and it is comb-like in structure. The majority of branches consist of only a few D-glucosyl residues, if not one D-glucosyl group.