The immunochemistry of Shigella flexneri lipopolysaccharides. A quantitative analysis of their monosaccharide constituents.

1. The lipopolysaccharides of a representative selection of Shigella flexneri serotypes all contain the same constituents as Salmonella chemotype VII, namely, aldoheptose phosphate, 3-deoxy-2-oxo-octonate, O-phosphorylethanolamine, d-galactose, d-glucose, N-acetyl-d-glucosamine and l-rhamnose. 2. The presence of all the Salmonella basal sugars in Sh. flexneri lipopolysaccharides is consistent with the view that the latter contain a basal structure or core which is similar to the common basal structure of Salmonella lipopolysaccharides. 3. Although the Sh. flexneri lipopolysaccharides belong to one chemotype, there appear to be quantitative differences in the composition of their O-specific side chains. The repeating units of Sh. flexneri serotypes 1a, 2a, 3a, 4a, and variant X contain d-glucose, N-acetyl-d-glucosamine and l-rhamnose in the proportions 1:1:2 respectively. The analogous repeating units of serotypes 5a and 6 contain an additional mole of d-glucose and d-galactose respectively and that of variant Y 1 mole of d-glucose less.