STUDIES ON THE BIOSYNTHESIS OF CELL-WALL POLYSACCHARIDE IN MUTANT STRAINS OF SALMONELLA, I

Abstract

The [image] mutants of Salmonella, grown in the absence of galactose, contained much less lipopolysaccharide than the wild type, and the lipopolysaccharide contained more lipoid-A and less polysaccharide compared with the one from wild-type strain. Unlike the polysaccharide from wild type which contained glucose, galactose, mannose, rhamnose and tyvelose (or abequose) (and probably heptose), the polysaccharide from M mutants contained only glucose (and probably heptose) as neutral sugar. The biological properties associated with the polysaccharide part[long dash]O-antigenic specificity, adsorption of certain phages and lipophilic character of bacterial surface[long dash]were radically altered; while that associated with lipoid-A portion[long dash]toxicity[long dash]was scarcely changes. When the mutants were grown with the addition of galactose, they synthesized lipopolysaccharide which was very similar to that of the wild type in both chemical and biological properties.