The specific polysaccharides of some Gram-negative bacteria

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Abstract
Materials having the properties of the "O" somatic antigens were extracted with trichloroacetic acid from acetone-dried cells of a number of strains of Salmonella, Shigella and Chromobacterium violaceum. The antigenic preparations, after purification by ethanol precipitation and high-speed centrifuging, were hydrolyzed with dilute acetic acid and the specific degraded polysaccharide haptens recovered from the solutions by ethanol precipitation after removal of the insoluble protein and lipid components. The sugars present in the polysaccharides were identified by chromato-graphic methods. In the Salmonella group the number of different sugars in the polysaccharides varies from 4 (S. montevideo) to 8 (S. paratyphosum A). Galactose and glucose wire present in all strains examined; mannose was found in 15 of 18 strains. Polysaccharides recovered from organisms in the same "O" group were, with few exceptions, qualitatively the same; quantitative differences among the component sugars were apparent in many cases. Organisms in the Shigella group all contain hexosamine and in addition, either 2 or 3 of the hexose sugars: galactose, glucose and rhamnose. C. violaceum polysaccharides showed little similarity with the exception of one pair of strains. Two heptose sugars were present, one of which appeared to be D-manno-D-gala-heptose. Chondrosamine was found in salmonellas of "O" group G (S. poona and S. grumpensis) and in Shigella alkalescens. An unidentified sugar was encountered in 2 Salmonella strains; this may be a bis-deoxy sugar similar to tyvelose and abequose.