Capsular polysaccharides are the primary antigenic components involved in protective immunity against encapsulated bacterial pathogens. Although immunization of adolescents and adults with polysaccharide antigens has reduced pathogen disease burden, pure polysaccharide vaccines have proved ineffective at conferring protective immunity to infants and the elderly, age cohorts that are deficient i...

The rfbg,, gene cluster, which is responsible for the synthesis of the lipopolysaccharide 09 antigen, was cloned from Escherichia coi 09:130. The gnd gene, encoding 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, was identified adjacent to the rJb09 cluster, and by DNA sequence analysis the gene order gnd-rJbM-rjbK was established. This order differs from that described for other members of the family Entero...

1. Mice immunized with heat-killed cells of virulent pneumococci (Type I) which have been treated with active preparations of the bacteriolytic enzyme, develop a certain degree of type specific resistance to subsequent infection. This active immunity, however, appears to be due to the small amount of free acetyl polysaccharide present in the suspension of digested bacteria, and is always of a l...

Cryptococcus neoformans is a human pathogenic fungus which is unusual in two respects: it has a polysaccharide capsule similar to that found in encapsulated bacteria and it can produce melanin. Capsular and melanization phenotypes are associated with virulence. In this study we analyzed the contributions of the capsular polysaccharide, melanization, and antibody binding to the capsule to the ce...

The leading cause of food poisoning in both Taiwan and Japan is Vibrio parahaemolyticus infection, whose mechanism of enteropathogenesis is still unclear. To evaluate whether surface components are responsible for the intestinal adhesion of V. parahaemolyticus, we have developed a novel method for isolating the capsular polysaccharide (CPS) from V. parahaemolyticus (serotype O4:K8). We found th...

Polysaccharide antigens of Pasteurella multocida serotype B:2,5 were identified by immunodiffusion and immunoelectrophoresis. The immunodiffusion tests showed that the first line, near the well containing the whole polysaccharide extract (WPE) represent LPS because this precipitation line occurs by diffusion using antiserum raised against P. multocida serotypes 8:2,5 and E:2,5 but not with 8:3,...