CAPSULE STRUCTURE OF PROTEUS-MIRABILIS (ATCC-49565)

Proteus mirabilis 2573 (ATCC 49565) produces an acidic capsular polysaccharide which was shown from glycose analysis, carboxyl reduction, methylation, periodate oxidation, and the application of one dimensional and two-dimensional high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance techniques to be a high-molecular-weight polymer of branched trisaccharide units composed of 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucose (N-acetyl-D-glucosamine), 2-acetamido-2,6-dideoxy-L-galactose (N-acetyl-L-fucosamine), and D-glucuronic acid, having the structure: [GRAPHICS] P. mirabilis 2573 also produces an O:6 serotype lipopolysaccharide in which the O-chain component has the same structure as the homologous capsular polysaccharide. This is the first report of a defined capsular polysaccharide in this bacterial genus.