Formation of Serologically Reactive Dextrans by Streptococci From Subacute Bacterial Endocarditis

Abstract

This paper deals with the formation of serologically reactive dextrans from sucrose by certain streptococci from the blood of patients with subacute bacterial endocarditis, and with the distinction between the formation of dextran by those streptococci and the formation of levan from the same substrate (sucrose) by certain other streptococci.Dextrans and levans (which are respectively polymers of glucose anhydride and of fructose anhydride units) have long been recognized as products synthesized through action upon sucrose by a variety of bacteria from plant and soil sources. The literature on the general subject begins with the studies on "viscous fermentation" by early chemists (1) at a time when no one realized microorganisms were connected with fermentative processes, and, after passing through the period in which the dextrans (2) and levans (3) were identified chemically and in which the microbial agency was established (4), extends to the modern period in which the detailed chemical (5, 6) and serological (7-9) properties of both classes of the polysaccharides have been investigated and the enzymatic syntheses of both dextran (10) and of levan (11) have been experimentally accomplished in the absence of cells. Although the literature is abundant and is from a variety of fields, little of it deals with streptococci of human source. I-llava (12) in 1902, Oerskov and Poulsen (13) in 1931, and Koch (14) in 1933, reported the production by streptococci from throats of gum which, from the substrate spedfidty involved in its formation, can be assumed to have been either levan or dextran, although the product was not differentiated chemically. More definite evidence was presented in 1941 by the report of Niven, Smiley, and Sherman (15, 16) on the production of a chemically identified levan by strains of S. salivarius and by our (17, 18) report of the production of a dextro-rotatory polysaccharide (later chemically identified as dextran) by some strains of group H (19) streptococci. The sucrose-derived products of the group H streptococci (17, 18) and of the S. salivarius (9) were shown by us to have serological properties, which introduced the possibility of applying serological methods for the study of dextran and levan formation by streptococci. Method for the Recognition of Dextrans and LevansSince it was desired to recognize and distinguish the dextrans and levans without isolation of the polysaccharides, it was essential that the method be adequate not only with respect to capacity to detect small concentrations of the polysaccharides but also with respect to ca-

Streptococci and aerococci associated with systemic infection in man

“…In four of five studies of streptococcal endocarditis published between 1946 and 1950 (Hehre and Neill, 1946;Niven and White, 1946;Selbie, Simon and .Robinson, 1949;Porterfield, 1950), strains classified as S. sanguis and S. mitior together made up more than three-quarters of the total (77%, 83%, 92% and 86% respectively), and in the fifth (Foley, 1947), in which enterococci predominated, they formed only 32%; in the present series, if members of all " a-haemolytic " taxa are included. the percentage was 45.…”

Studies on the Immunochemical Basis of Allergic Reactions to Dextran in Man12

“…Since dextran has been shown by Neill, Hehre, Sugg, and Jaffe (19,20) to be a contaminant of commercial sugar, and since these workers have isolated dextran-producing organisms from the gastrointestinal tract (21,22), ample opportunity exists for the development of an antibody response. Furthermore, since dextrans are known to cross-react with Types II, XII, XX, IX, XXII, etc.…”

The Isolation and Characterization of Streptococcus mutans Serotype h from Dental Plaque of Monkeys (Macaca fascicularis)

“…mutans but the demonstration of glucosyltransferase activity on electrophoresis gels enabled an identification to be made. This demonstrates the unreliability of the test for polysaccharide by ethanol precipitation (Hehre & Neill, 1946) when applied to these isolates, and suggests that their ability to adhere to glass surfaces and to wires, or their colonial morphology, may be more reliable characteristics correlating with polysaccharide (glucan) production (Krasse, 1966).…”