Pneumococcal polysaccharide conformations

✍ Scribed by William T. Winter; Iosif Adelsky

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 1981
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 212 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0006-3525
• DOI: 10.1002/bip.1981.360201214

✦ Synopsis

Introduction

Streptococcus przeumoniae bacteria are commonly encapsulated with a thick extracellular layer composed of linear or regularly branched polysaccharides.' These molecules are antigenic and provide the immunochemical basis for serological classification of pneumococcal strains. We have obtained x-ray diffraction patterns from two such capsular substances, S3 and S8, which are produced by types Pn3 and Pn8 bacteria, respectively. The structures of the chemical repeating unit have already been determined for both S32 and S83 and are shown in Fig. 1. In view of the ability for S8 to cross-react with anti-Pn3 sera? it is of interest to compare the conformations of the common disaccharide, P-D-G~cUA-( 1-4)-P-D-Glc, in the two molecules.