Structural features of lipopolysaccharide from Rickettsia typhi: the causative agent of endemic typhus.
Rickettsia typhi causes endemic typhus, a relatively mild, acute febrile illness characterized by headache and macular rash. It is maintained in rodents and transmitted to humans by flea Xenopsylla cheopis. R. typhi contains a lipopolysaccharide thought to display a noticeable antigenic activity. We examined its structural features and it appears that the O-specific chain of the R. typhi LPS is composed mainly of the alternating Glc and QuiNAc residues linked by 1-->4 bonds.
Laboratory of Diagnosis and Prevention of Rickettsial and Chlamydial Infections, Institute of Virology, SAS, Dubravska cesta 9, 845 05 Bratislava, Slovakia.
Marcela
M
Fodorova
Pavol
P
Vadovic
Ludovit
L
Skultety
Katarina
K
Slaba
Rudolf
R
Toman
D000818:Animals; D002236:Carbohydrate Conformation; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000633:toxicity; D012286:Rickettsia typhi / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology*; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; D014437:Typhus, Endemic Flea-Borne / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology*
D008070:Lipopolysaccharides