title: Relationship of capsular type to biochemical and immunological properties of teichoic acid preparations from unencapsulated strains of Staphylococcus aureus.
abstract: We investigated the biochemical and immunological characteristics of teichoic acid preparations (TAP) obtained from four unencapsulated strains of Staphylococcus aureus which nonetheless, according to the serum-soft agar technique, produced capsular type antigen and were representative of the four types A, B, C, and D. In the agar diffusion test, TAP of each strain produced a single precipitin line only against rabbit antisera corresponding to the homologous capsular type; no lines were observed against antisera to the heterologous capsular type. All TAP were ribitol type except one, glycerol, prepared from a capsular type D strain. Major acetylglucosaminyl residues of TAP from strains having capsular type A and C antigens were attached to the polyribitol phosphate by beta-linkage, whereas TAP from a type B antigen strain had an alpha-linkage; type D antigen was attached to the polyglycerol phosphate by the beta-linkage. Chemical analyses and infrared spectrograms of these TAP further confirmed their heterogeneous nature.
mesh_terms: D000117:Acetylglucosamine / Q000032:analysis; D002855:Chromatography, Thin Layer; D006868:Hydrolysis; D012703:Serotyping; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000276:immunology*; D013682:Teichoic Acids / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D013682:Teichoic Acids; D000117:Acetylglucosamine