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Infection and Immunity, April 2001, p. 2339-2344, Vol. 69, No. 4
Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine,
Brigham and Women's Hospital,1 and
Department of Microbiology and Molecular
Genetics,2 Harvard Medical School, Boston,
Massachusetts 02115
Received 11 October 2000/Returned for modification 27 November
2000/Accepted 10 January 2001
Although Bacteroides fragilis accounts for only 0.5%
of the normal human colonic flora, it is the anaerobic species most
frequently isolated from intra-abdominal and other infections with an
intestinal source. The capsular polysaccharides of B. fragilis are part of a complex of surface polysaccharides and are
the organism's most important virulence factors in the formation of
intra-abdominal abscesses. Two capsular polysaccharides from strain
NCTC 9343, PS A1 and PS B1, have been characterized structurally. Their
most striking feature is a zwitterionic charge motif consisting of both
positively and negatively charged substituent groups on each repeating
unit. This zwitterionic motif is essential for abscess formation. In
this study, we sought to elucidate structural features of the capsular
polysaccharide complex of a commonly studied B. fragilis
strain, 638R, that is distinct from strain 9343. We sought a more
general picture of the species to establish basic structure-activity and structure-biosynthesis relationships among abscess-inducing polysaccharides. Strain 638R was found to have a capsular
polysaccharide complex from which three distinct carbohydrates could be
isolated by a complex purification procedure. Compositional and
immunochemical studies demonstrated a zwitterionic charge motif common
to all of the capsular polysaccharides that correlated with their
ability to induce experimental intra-abdominal abscesses. Of interest is the range of net charges of the isolated polysaccharides
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.4.2339-2344.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Immunochemical and Biological Characterization of Three Capsular
Polysaccharides from a Single Bacteroides fragilis
Strain
from positive (PS C2) to balanced (PS A2) to negative (PS 3). Relationships among structural components of the zwitterionic polysaccharides and
their molecular biosynthesis loci were identified.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Channing
Laboratory, 181 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA 02115. Phone: (617) 525-2685. Fax: (617) 731-1541. E-mail:
wkalka-moll{at}rics.bwh.harvard.edu.
Infection and Immunity, April 2001, p. 2339-2344, Vol. 69, No. 4
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.4.2339-2344.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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