title: Production of slime polysaccharides by Shigella dysenteriae type 1.
abstract: Electron microscopy of ruthenium red-stained ultrathin section of strains of Shigella dysenteriae type 1 grown in the Casamino Acids-yeast extract broth medium showed the presence of an extracellular slime layer. The slime appeared as a dense sheath covering bacteria. The presence of slime promoted hemagglutinating activity of the bacteria. The slime polysaccharide (SPS) isolated from the cell-free culture supernatant or the bacterial surface was less than 162,000 daltons in size and immunochemically similar. The SPS showed cross-reaction with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) antigen in immunological tests; however, it also appeared to be different from LPS since it did not contain 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate, a core sugar of LPS. A different pattern of separation from LPS was also observed by silver staining of SDS-polyacrylamide gels. From these data it appeared that either LPS and SPS are contaminated with each other or that SPS is the polysaccharide portion of LPS.
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Dhaka.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Qadri
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haque
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hossain
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Albert
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005110:Extracellular Space / Q000378:metabolism; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology; D006168:Guinea Pigs / Q000097:blood; D006386:Hemagglutination Tests; D005779:Immunodiffusion; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008970:Molecular Weight; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D012430:Ruthenium Red; D012762:Shigella dysenteriae / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D013400:Sugar Acids / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D006023:Glycoproteins; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D011134:Polysaccharides; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial; D013400:Sugar Acids; C002532:2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate; D012430:Ruthenium Red