Chemical Characterization of a New Surface Antigenic Polysaccharide from a Mutant of Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

A mutant of Staphylococcus aureus H was isolated by virtue of its inability to agglutinate with antibodies against teichoic acid of S. aureus . Immunological studies revealed that the mutant, S. aureus T, possessed a new surface antigen in addition to having the antigenic determinant of the wild-type strain, the ribitol teichoic acid. The presence of this additional surface component rendered strain T resistant to staphylococcal typing phages, presumably by masking the phage-receptor sites. The polymer was separated from teichoic acid by chromatography on diethylaminoethyl cellulose and was shown to be composed of two amino sugars, N -acetyl- d -fucosamine and N -acetyl- d -mannosamin uronic acid.