Lipopolysaccharides in Cyanobacteria: A Brief Overview

Cyanobacteria are an interesting group of photosynthetic prokaryotes with a great potential in drug discovery and scientific research. Due to their high degree of diversification, they have been able to adapt to almost all ecological niches. Similarly to Gram-negative bacteria, cyanobacterial cell wall contains Lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) in the outer membrane layer. LPSs are molecules that possess the ability to elicit an innate immune response via Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) activation. Cyanobacterial LPSs have been studied to a minor extent compared to Gram-negative bacterial LPSs. However, available data revealed important differences between the LPSs of these two groups of organisms, both in term of structure and biological activity. This review summarizes the current knowledge about cyanobacterial LPSs, highlighting their peculiarity and their potentiality compared to more characterized bacterial LPSs