Pneumococcus species polysaccharides

Eleven IgA myeloma proteins that precipitate with Pneumococcus C polysaccharide (PnC) have been described.65-69 This antigen has a structure whose general features are known,70 71 and it is a somatic, species-specific polysaccharide. 

The pneumococci all belong to different types of the same species, namely, Streptococcus pneumoniae. This was earlier called Diplococcus pneumoniae, but has been renamed.5 6 7 There are some 80 different types of pneumococcus, and two systems of nomenclature, the Danish, used in Europe, and Eddy s, used in the United States.8 Tables correlating the Danish and American designations have been published.8 The Danish system, with Arabic numerals and common abbreviations, such as Phi for Type 1 and SI for its type-specific, capsular polysaccharide, will be used in this article. 

In order to provide access here to information about other microbial polysaccharides, there follows a short review of reviews. The Chemical Nature of Bacterial Antigens is a source of information on the earlier work, and this was followed by two reviews - in the present Series in one of these, the bacterial homopolysaccharides were discussed and some of the more complex products were mentioned. A wide review of mucopolysaccharides and mucoproteins included references to many bacterial polysaccharides, and, subsequently, an account of the specific polysaccharides of the Gram-positive Pneumococcus, and of dextrans, levans, and products of Gram-negative forms appeared. There followed a comprehensive review of pneumococcal polysaccharides, and an account restricted to products of Mycobacterium tuberculosis appeared in 1948. A broad coverage was provided in 1950, in this case the products of pathogenic species being dealt with more particularly this work encompassed the basis of the more... 

The condensation of hexuronic acid derivatives with hexosaminides to give amide-linked disaccharides is referred to in Chapter D-Galacturonic acid has been identified as a component of Pneumococcus type 25 capsular polysaccharide," and 2-O-methyl-D-glucuronic acid has been isolated for the first time in Nature from an extracellular polysaccharide of a species (Porphyridium cruentum) of red alga. The acidic sugar component in Klebsiella type 37 capsular polysaccharide has been identified as 4-0-[(5)-l-carboxyethyl]-D-glucuronic acid. Antibiotic substances and nucleosides that contain uronic acid components are referred to in Chapters 20 and 21, respectively. 

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