An investigation of the sugar composition of lipopolysaccharides derived from fifteen welldefined Shigella boydii serotypes was carried out. All Sh. boydii lipopolysaccharides contained glucosarnine, glucose, galactose, heptose and 3-deoxyoctulosonic acid. These sugars were considered to represent the core polysaccharides and those except heptose and 3-deoxyoctulosonic acid could represent the constituents of the 0-specific polysaccharide chains. In addition to the basal sugars, the following monosaccharides were detected as constituents of the various Sh. boydii lipopolysaccharides : mannose, rhamnose, L-quinovosamine, galactosamine and 3,6-dideoxyhexose. As a result, a chemical classification of Sh. boydii lipopolysaccharides into eight chemotypes was achieved and this differs from the accepted Sh. boydii classification. Genus Shigella comprises the pathogenic organism which cause dysentery. This makes the systematic investigation on lipopolysaccharides of Shigella microorganisms of great significance for immunology as well as for taxonomy, biosynthesis, genetics and the evolutionary history of this important family of biopoly mers .34 Eur. J. Biochem., Vo1.34
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Bacteria and LipopolysaccharidesThe strains of all fifteen serotypes of Sh. boydii used in this study were selected from the collection of the I. I. Mechnikov Institute of Vaccine and Sera.The strains of serotypes 1, 4, 7, 11 and 12 were isolated in the U.S.S.R., the strains of serotypes 2, 3, 6 and 8 came from the U.S.A., those of 5,9 and 10 were from Poland and strains 13, 14 and 15 from England. The bacterial cultures were tested for purity by slide agglutination tests with the adsorbed type sera and by the cultivation on appropriate media. The study showed all the microorganisms to be in S-form.To achieve more detailed serological characteristics of the bacterial cultures, the reciprocal antigenic relations inside the group of Sh. boydii were examined. The antisera were prepared by the immunisation of rabbits with preheated (100 "C) and formaldehyde (0.3O/,, v/v) pretreated microbial suspensions. The antigenic individuality of Sh. boydii serotypes was confirmed in cross agglutination tests with the exception of serotypes 10 and 11, which showed intensive cross reaction. There was no inagglutinability of cultures in the 0-sera. For the preparation of the microbial cells, broth cultures (4 h) were inoculated onto sightly alkaline agar media. Each strain was placed in 25 gels and incubated for 18 to 20 h at 37 "C. The gels were harvested by gentle shaking with saline containing 2O/, (w/v) phenol.The suspension was kept overnight at 37 "C, thereby