Klebsiella pneumoniaeLipopolysaccharide O Typing: Revision of Prototype Strains and O-Group Distribution among Clinical Isolates from Different Sources and Countries

Abstract

We have previously described an inhibition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method for the O typing of O1 lipopolysaccharide from Klebsiella pneumoniae which overcomes the technical problems and limitations of the classical O-typing method. In this study, we have extended the method to all of the currently recognized O types. The method was validated by studying the prototype strains that have defined the O groups by the classical tube agglutinatination O-typing method. Based on these results, we confirmed the O types of 60 of 64 typeable strains, and we propose a revised O-antigenic scheme, with minor but necessary changes, consisting of serogroups or serotypes O1, O2, O2ac, O3, O4, O5, O7, O8, and O12. Application of this typing method to 638 K. pneumoniaeclinical isolates from Denmark, Spain, and the United States from different sources (blood, urine, and others) showed that up to 80% of these isolates belong to serotypes or serogroups O1, O2, O3, and O5, independently of the source of isolation, and that a major group of nontypeable isolates, representing about 17% of the total, consists of half O+ and half O− strains. Differences were observed, however, in the prevalence of the lipopolysaccharide O types or groups, depending on the country and isolation source.

Klebsiella typing: pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) in comparison with O:K-serotyping

“…O-typing was performed using an inhibition ELISA (iELISA) method [9]. The following O-groups were recognized: O1, O2, O2ac, O3, O4, O5, O7, O8 and O12.…”

“…The iELISA specific for the O antigen of the outbreak strain in Part 2 was made with purified lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from a spontaneous K À (non-capsulated) mutant of strain i28-94 and the O:K-antiserum raised against strain i28-94, using the same methods as for the known O-groups. Ogroup non-typable (ONT) isolates that did not react in any of the nine iELISA systems were investigated by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) for the presence (O þ ) or absence (O À , rough isolates) of high-molecular lipopolysaccharide bands [9]. PFGE PFGE restriction pattern was obtained on a CHEF DR II-apparatus (Biorad, Hercules, CA, USA) using XbaI (New England Biolabs, Beverly, MA, USA) as restriction enzyme.…”

The wavB gene of Vibrio cholerae and the waaE of Klebsiella pneumoniae codify for a β-1,4-glucosyltransferase involved in the transfer of a glucose residue to the ?-glycero-?-manno-heptose I in the lipopolysaccharide inner core

“…waaE mutant and waaE complementation studies K. pneumoniae 889 (08:K69) [27] was used because its chemical LPS core structure has recently been updated ( Fig. 1A), from its unencapsulated mutant NRC6121 [28].…”

Somatic Serogroups, Capsular Types, and Species of Fecal Klebsiella in Patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis

“…K. pneumoniae and K. oxytoca frequently cause infections, whereas K. planticola, K. terrigena, and K. ornithinolytica are usually nonpathogenic. The somatic (O) antigens of Klebsiella have recently been recognized to divide into nine groups (O1, O2, O2ac, O3, O4, O5, O7, O8, and O12), most of which contain several serotypes (10). O typing of Klebsiella strains has rarely been applied to clinical isolates; during the past 40 years only five studies of O typing of Klebsiella strains have been published (7,10,15,25,26).…”

“…The somatic (O) antigens of Klebsiella have recently been recognized to divide into nine groups (O1, O2, O2ac, O3, O4, O5, O7, O8, and O12), most of which contain several serotypes (10). O typing of Klebsiella strains has rarely been applied to clinical isolates; during the past 40 years only five studies of O typing of Klebsiella strains have been published (7,10,15,25,26). In contrast to the small number of O groups, 77 K serotypes are recognized, and their distributions in clinical samples have been widely studied (5,9).…”