title: A simple procedure to demonstrate the presence of the O-antigen capsule in enteropathogenic Escherichia coli.
abstract: Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli O111 bacteria very often produce a capsule-like polysaccharide exhibiting the same chemical composition as the O-specific chains of their lipopolysaccharide and being designated as O-antigen capsule. In this paper, a new simple procedure is described for the detection of this capsule polymer. O-antigen capsule polysaccharide and lipopolysaccharide of bacterial extracts were electrophoretically separated in agarose cetavlon gel, blotted onto nitrocellulose membranes and visualized by immunological methods. As a result of this procedure, the O-antigen capsule can be detected as a spot completely separated from the LPS (Figs. 1 and 2). Consequently, this method allows a clear discrimination of K+ and K- strains.
authors.affiliation: Forschungsinstitut Borstel, Institut für Experimentelle Biologie und Medizin.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Krallmann-Wenzel
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schmidt
mesh_terms: D000371:Agglutination; D016667:Bacterial Capsules; D004586:Electrophoresis; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000276:immunology*; D019081:O Antigens; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D019081:O Antigens; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial