Tubercle bacilli polysaccharides

Many authors have reported attempts to immunize animals against tuberculous infection with various extracts of tubercle bacilli, Polysaccharides and proteins have generally been found ineffective, whereas certain lipid fractions have been found active. For a detailed discussion, see the recent review of Crowle. ... 

D-Arabinose is found in the glycoside bar-baloin and in the polysaccharides of the tubercle bacillus. 

Varying proportions of D-mannose and of the rarely occurring D-form of arabinose are obtained76 on hydrolysis of the polysaccharide of tubercle bacillus (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) strain H-37, whereas the poly-... 

The serologically inactive polysaccharide fractions were strongly acidic, and it seemed that the inactivity was in some measure related to the acidic function. These workers suggested that immunological specificity, in the case of the tubercle bacillus, was not connected with sugar acids. They also showed that the polysaccharide associated with the culture medium, as isolated by Masucci, McAlpine and Glenn, contained constituents identical with those in polysaccharides of somatic origin. 

The nucleic acid of the tubercle bacillus has been identified largely as deoxyribonucleic acid. This acid has been found to occur in association with polysaccharide fractions, probably due to the remarkable adsorptive powers of the latter. The nucleic acid, which is antigenically inactive (see p. 325), has been successfully separated from protein and carbohydrate material by electrophoretic means. ... 

---