Bacterial Conversion of Dextrin into a Polysaccharide with the Serological Properties of Dextran

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Abstract
Cultures of Acetobacter viscosum and A. capsulatum from "ropy" beer, when cultivated with dextrin but not when cultivated with any of 17 other common sugars, produced abundant amts. of material with serological properties like those of dextran. Comparison of purified dextrin-derived polysaccharide of A. capsulatum with purified sucrose-derived dextran of Leuconostoc mesenteroides showed them to be indistinguishable in their capacity to give serological precipitation with types 2, 20, and to some extent type 12 pneumococcus antiserum. A cell-free enzyme system, capable of converting dextrins to dextran in vitro, was obtained from A. capsulatum.