Immunochemical Relationships of Certain Capsular Polysaccharides of Klebsiella, Pneumococci and Rhizobia

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Abstract
Pyruvic acid is an immunologic determinant in the capsular polysaccharides of Klebsiella K32, pneumococcal types IV and XXVII, and eight strains of Rhizobia. All of these react heavily in anti-Pn XXVII. A cross-reaction between Pn IV and Pn XXVII is described and shown not to be due to pyruvic acid. Klebsiella K9 is characterized by non-reducing end-groups of D-glucuronic acid (or of 4-O-methyl-d-glucuronic acid) but differs in other respects from K2. Cross-reactions of K47 show it to be the only one of those tested with non-reducing end-groups of l-rhamnose. K52 reacts heavily in anti-Pn XXVIII. When depyruvylated, the rhizobial polysaccharides show much greater reactivity, and, occasionally, different reactivities in anti-Pn sera other than XXVII, in which depyruvylation virtually abolishes precipitation. The rhizobial polysaccharides may contain their pyruvic acid linked as a ketal to d-galactose; the linkage in S IV is more labile.

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