The role of capsular polysaccharide K21b of Klebsiella and of the structurally related colanic-acid polysaccharide of Escherichia coli in resistance to phagocytosis and serum killing.

The behaviour of strains of Klebsiella aerogenes of capsular serotype K21 and strains of Escherichia coli producing a structurally related polysaccharide (colanic acid) was analysed by phagocytic and serum-killing assays. The cell-surface characteristics of these strains and of non-capsulate strains derived from them were also investigated by partitioning experiments in aqueous two-polymer phase systems. The possession of K21-type capsule by K. aerogenes or colanic-acid polysaccharide by E. coli conferred a strong negative charge on capsulate bacteria. Negatively charged bacteria of E. coli producing colanic-acid capsules, however, like non-capsulate K. aerogenes, were susceptible to uptake by polymorphonuclear leukocytes. In contrast, K21 polysaccharide conferred on klebsiellae considerable resistance to phagocytic uptake. The finding that ingested non-capsulate derivative strains of K. aerogenes were less rapidly degraded by phagocytes than E. coli strains suggested that other components of the cell surface of Klebsiella, notably lipopolysaccharide, may be involved in protection against phagocytic killing. The presence of colanic-acid capsules on E. coli conferred little resistance to the bactericidal activity of human serum or phagocytic uptake and did not protect against intracellular killing by polymorphonuclear leukocytes.