Isolation and characteristics of Shigella antigens during the course of dysentery

In 2,436 fecal samples and 1,272 urinary samples taken from 633 patients with dysentery caused by S. flexneri, S. newcastle and S. sonnei, Shigella antigens were detected by means of the passive hemagglutination test with antibody diagnostic agents and the antibody neutralization test. The antigen-binding activity of shigellae in urine dynamically increased in the course of dysentery. The comparison of the parallel results of both serological tests made it possible to evaluate the dispersion of the released antigen: it dynamically increased in the course of the disease, this increase being particularly high in feces. The dispersion of Shigella antigens in urine was greater than in feces over the entire course of the disease. These regularities in the release of the antigens and especially the specific features of the serological tests determined the scheme of the serological diagnosis of dysentery by the indication of Shigella antigens.     

Chemical characterization of enterobacterial common antigen isolated from Plesiomonas shigelloides ATCC 14029

Serologically characterized samples of enterobacterial common antigen (ECA) from Plesiomonas shigelloides, Salmonella montevideo and Shigella sonnei were investigated by chemical methods including methylation and NMR techniques. All showed the same sugar composition and contained a lipid moiety with palmitic acid as main fatty acid and with a phosphodiester group. Additional enzymatic studies, reported in the preceding paper, provided evidence that the lipid moiety is an L-glycerophosphatidyl residue attached via a phosphodiester linkage to C-1 of GlcNAc as the reducing end of the ECA sugar chain. ECA of P. shigelloides showed the best-resolved 13C-NMR spectra, especially after the removal of non-stoichiometric O-acetyl groups at C-6 of GlcNAc of the ECA repeating unit and of the lipid moiety by mild acid hydrolysis (0.01 M HCl, 100 degrees C, 10 min). Subsequent 13C-NMR studies were therefore carried out with the mild-acid-treated ECA of P. shigelloides which allowed a tentative assignment of all resonances of the ECA repeating unit. 13C-NMR spectra of Salmonella and Shigella ECA were essentially the same as those obtained with Plesiomonas ECA. The same trisaccharide repeating unit was encountered as demonstrated previously in the cyclic form of ECA isolated from S. sonnei by Dell et al. [Carbohydr. Res. 133, 95-104 (1984)]. Methylation analysis, however, afforded small amounts of terminal GlcNAc thus proving, in combination with the demonstration of the attached lipid moiety, an acyclic nature of ECA from P. shigelloides and from the two enterobacterial species. The question of whether the cyclic form co-exists in S. sonnei phase I and possibly in other enterobacterial species or, whether it had been formed during extraction as an artifact, has not yet been answered. The way in which ECA was isolated in our studies would preclude the presence of a non-amphiphilic (cyclic) polysaccharide. The finding that the sugar chain of ECA is attached to an L-glycerophosphatidyl residue is in full corroboration with serological, enzymatic and gel electrophoretic studies shown in the preceding paper and with the character of ECA as a surface antigen being anchored by hydrophobic interactions in the outer membrane of Enterobacteriaceae and P. shigelloides.     

Common evolutionary origin of chromosomal beta-lactamase genes in enterobacteria

A 32P-labeled fragment of DNA, encoding the major part of the chromosomal ampC beta-lactamase gene of Escherichia coli K-12, was used as a hybridization probe for homologous DNA sequences in colonies of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and different enterobacterial species. The ampC probe detected the presence of homologous DNA sequences in clinical isolates of E. coli, Shigella flexneri, Shigella sonnei, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella typhimurium, Serratia marcescens, and P. aeruginosa. No hybridization was found with N. gonorrhoeae colonies. In Southern blotting experiments the ampC probe hybridized to chromosomal DNA fragments of the same size in all enterobacterial species tested. However, the degree of hybridization differed with DNA from different species. DNA from the Shigella species strongly hybridized to the ampC probe. Furthermore, antibodies raised against purified E. coli K-12 ampC beta-lactamase precipitated beta-lactamases from the Shigella species, suggesting extensive sequence similarities between the ampC genes of these genera. The production of chromosomal beta-lactamase in S. sonnei increased with increasing growth rate similar to E. coli K-12. This growth rate response was abolished in two beta-lactamase-hyperproducing S. sonnei mutants, which thus seem similar to E. coli K-12 attenuator mutants. We propose that both the structure and regulation of the chromosomal beta-lactamase genes are very similar in E. coli and in S. sonnei.     

Production by Aeromonas of Common Enterobacterial Antigen and Its Possible Taxonomic Significance

In a study of production of the common enterobacterial antigen (CA) by members of the Aeromonas group, ten strains of A. shigelloides, nine strains of A. hydrophila, and nine strains of A. salmonicida were used. Passive hemagglutination and hemolysis tests as well as the hemagglutination-inhibition procedure revealed that all strains of A. shigelloides, in contrast to the strains of the other two species, produce this antigenic determinant. The antigen of A. shigelloides was demonstrated even when the supernatant fluids of agar-grown cultures were used in a dilution of 1:1,000, whereas 10-times concentrated supernatant fluids obtained from the other two species were negative. Supernatant liquids of cultures of A. shigelloides failed to induce a significant CA immune response in rabbits; nonetheless, the animals were primed immunologically and responded with prompt production of CA antibodies in significant titers to a booster injection of a subeffective dose of CA obtained from Salmonella typhimurium. Strains of A. hydrophila and A. salmonicida neither induced CA antibody formation nor primed the animals. It is concluded that of the three species of the Aeromonas group only A. shigelloides, which may produce O antigen cross-reacting with Shigella sonnei and which has been isolated from patients with dysentery or gastroenteritis, produces CA. Production of this antigen, therefore, may help to characterize microorganisms belonging or related to the family Enterobacteriaceae.     

痢疾结合疫苗LPS制备条件的优化研究

通过对痢疾杆菌LPS提取过程中主要制备环节的优化和改进,确立最佳提取条件和纯化过程,并应用优化后的工艺路线分别制备八批次福氏2 a痢疾杆菌和宋内氏痢疾杆菌LPS;福氏2 a痢疾杆菌LPS批平均产量为1.633g,宋内氏痢疾杆菌LPS批产量平均为1.251g,批产量相对稳定,平均产量比优化改进前提高20%以上。LPS经过酸水解、柱层析纯化获得目标O-SP,福氏2 a痢疾杆菌和宋内氏痢疾杆菌O-SP的得率分别为20%和28%。检测结果证明,LPS和O-SP各项指标均符合规程(草案)相关要求。实验为今后痢疾结合疫苗大规模制备工艺的改进和提高打下了基础。     

Escherichia-erythrocyte diagnostic agents

The conditions of a simple and practicable method for the preparation of effective antigenic nonprotein diagnosticums on the basis of water-phenol extracts of 23 Escherichia species have been developed. The method consists in heating the mixture of erythrocytes and the antigen in a boiling water bath for 60 minutes. The diagnosticums thus obtained are 16-30 times more sensitive in the passive hemagglutination test and 4-6 times more sensitive in the passive hemagglutination inhibition test than diagnosticums prepared with the use of tannin, rivanol, as well as by the common method for the preparation of nonprotein antigens. The minimum concentration of Escherichia cells detected in the passive hemagglutination inhibition test is 0.8-1.2 million cells/ml.     

Investigation of a Providencia rettgeri strain that has enterobacterial common antigen in the immunogenic state

Antigenic material obtained by phenol-water extraction from Providencia rettgeri strains, Escherichia coli O:14 strains, and mutants of the E. coli O:14 strain were examined by the passive (indirect) hemagglutination technique, by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and by immune blotting (lipopolysaccharide (LPS) blotting). Providencia rettgeri 965, like E. coli O:14, was demonstrated to have an enterobacterial common antigen (ECA) in the immunogenic form but, unlike E. coli O:14, it possessed characteristics of a smooth strain. Two populations of molecules were observed to occur in P. rettgeri 965 phenol-water extracts: one consisting of LPS identifiable with specific O antisera and the other of ECA molecules identifiable with E. coli O:14 antiserum or with a monoclonal antibody against ECA.     

Changes in antigenic properties of lipopolysaccharides of Shigella sonnei phase I having lost the virulence due to transposon integration into the invasiveness plasmid PSS120

A nonvirulent strain of Shigella sonnei phase I has been obtained by integration of the transposon Tn5 into the invasiveness plasmid pSS120 in the virulent strain and designated NR18. The presence of the plasmid pSS120 in both strains results in the similar morphology and bacterial ability to agglutinate in the presence of antiserum to Shigella sonnei phase I antigen. The lipopolysaccharide preparations from the virulent and nonvirulent strains give the similar reactions with the antiserum in the reaction of hemagglutination. However, in the reaction of passive local hemolysis in the gel (Jerne reaction) the significant difference is revealed in the immunogenicity of the preparations, with the preparations from the virulent strain being 4-5 fold more immunogenic. In crossreaction, the antibodies secreted by the mouse spleen cells immunized by LPS from the virulent strain show a weak reaction with the ram erythrocytes sensitized by the LPS of the nonvirulent strain. Thus, the biological changes in the LPS of the nonvirulent strains that are, evidently, the consequence of the structural changes, are identified only by the most sensitive immunological techniques.     

Shigella endotoxin protein--its isolation and physicochemical characteristics

The scheme of the isolation of endotoxic protein from S. sonnei 9090 is presented. The isolation procedure includes the 10-minute hot (at 68 degrees C) extraction of protein from endotoxin with 45% aqueous phenol, the precipitation of protein from phenolic extract with 9.5 volumes of 95% ethanol, the purification of protein from lipid material and pigments by multiple extraction with the mixture of chloroform and ethanol in the proportion 2:1 by volume. The yield of protein obtained with the use of this isolation scheme is about 3% of the initial endotoxin preparation. Protein preparations obtained in accordance with this scheme contain 92-95% of protein (determined by Lowry's method), 2.3-3.0% of saccharides (determined by the phenol-sulfate method) and 0.02% of hexose amine, its presence indicating that the preparations contain lipid A (or its fragments) which is firmly bound with endotoxic protein and cannot be extracted with chloroform. As shown in the passive hemagglutination inhibition test, the content of endotoxin in the preparations is less than 0.003%. Out of 7-11 bands revealed by electrophoresis in 15% polyacrylamide gel in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate, 3 main bands have molecular weights of 43, 38 and 18 KD. Three antigens differing in their electrophoretic mobility and diffusion rate in 1% agarose gel can be detected in the preparations by the method of immunoelectrophoresis with the use of antisera to both endotoxin and endotoxic protein.     

The protective properties of the endotoxin protein

The isolation and properties of endotoxin protein, or lipid A-associated protein (LAP), from Shigella sonnei were described earlier (Zh. mikrobiol. epidemiol. immunobiol., 1991, No. 4, pp. 11-17, and No. 7). In this report the data on its protective activity are presented. In experiments on mice one nanogram of LAP injected i. v. protected 50% of the animals against i. p. challenge with 40 LD50 of virulent S. sonnei. Guinea pigs injected s. c. with 10 micrograms of LAP were protected against local (keratoconjunctival) challenge with S. sonnei, the efficiency of immunization being 58%. LAP preparations containing no detectable amounts of O-antigen (less than 0.003%) were found to have a protective effect. Hyperimmune anti-LAP rabbit serum prevented local infection when incubated with S. sonnei challenge inoculum before injection into guinea pigs. Both active and passive protection induced by LAP was specific since no effect was observed in animals challenged with Shigella flexneri. In the homologous system the protective effect of anti-LAP serum was abolished by the addition of protein-free LPS. These results are compatible with the hypothesis that the protective activity of LAP depends on the presence of minute amounts of O-antigen whose immunogenic effect is greatly amplified by the protein component of the natural endotoxin complex.     

The possibility of using the demonstration of Shigella antigens in the study of the epidemic process in dysentery

The detection of Shigella antigens in feces in accordance with the results of the passive hemagglutination test is more effective than the bacteriological method for finding out persons infected with Shigella, especially in the absence of pronounced clinical manifestations of dysentery, and can be used in the study of the mechanism of the epidemic process. The examination of two groups, each consisting of permanent and temporary members, has revealed that the use of this method for detection of the antigen makes it possible to perform the epidemiological analysis of morbidity and, in particular, to determine the source(s) of infection.     

Purification of cross-reacting protein antigen shared by Yersinia enterocolitica and other gram-negative bacteria with monoclonal antibody

A monoclonal antibody against the Yersinia enterocolitica 60-kilodalton (kDa) antigen, designated cross-reacting protein antigen (CRPA), was obtained by cell fusion. The CRPA common to gram-negative bacteria was purified from Y. enterocolitica by the affinity chromatography with the monoclonal antibody (IgG1) thus obtained. The purified CRPA showed a single band of 60 kDa in SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), and reacted with rabbit antisera against Y. enterocolitica, Vibrio cholerae, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Shigella sonnei in Western blot analysis. The monoclonal antibody, however, reacted with a 60 kDa peptide from Y. enterocolitica, but not with the antigens from other gram-negative bacteria such as V. cholerae, E. coli, S. sonnei, Salmonella enteritidis, Serratia marcescens, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, and P. aeruginosa. The results suggested that both species-specific and cross-reactive epitopes were present on a CRPA molecule.     

Mobilization of phase I plasmid in Shigella sonnei and stability of its inheritance in rough strains of Shigella and Escherichia

The plasmid pSS120, determining the synthesis of species specific I phase antigen of Shigella sonnei is mobilized for genetic transfer into E. coli K12 recipient cells with the frequency 12-41%. The frequency depends on the type of mobilized plasmid and recipient strain. The I phase antigen is normally expressed in II phase recipient cells and in E. coli cells. During mobilization pSS120 forms cointegrates representing a recombinant of mobilizing and mobilized plasmids DNA. The study of pSS120 inheritance stability has shown the plasmid to be unstable during culturing of bacteria and to be partially lost from the parent Shigella sonnei strains as well as from the "hybrid" transconjugants obtained. The 60 Md plasmid present in the donor strains of Shigella sonnei is prone to structural fragmentation particularly expressed in Shigella sonnei/E. coli hybrids.     

Anti-bacterial and anti-endotoxic immunity, induced by the administration of an enterobacterial vaccine

The work demonstrates that the sera of animals immunized with enterobacterial vaccine, when adsorbed on sheep red blood cells sensitized with glycolipid Re, lose their capacity of decreasing the lethal effect of Shigella sonnei endotoxin, which is indicative of the antiendotoxic action of antibodies. At the same time, immune sera obtained after immunization with enterobacterial vaccine contain antibodies having also other specificity and thus ensuring antibacterial immunity.     

Elimination of Klebsiella pneumoniae and humoral immunity in immunization with the IS-4 immunostimulating mixture

The present investigation has revealed that in mice, immunized with preparation HC-4 (an immunostimulating agent consisting of water-soluble antigenic complexes obtained from 4 opportunistic microorganisms: Klebsiella pneumoniae, staphylococcus, Proteus and Escherichia coli K-100 having a common antigen with Haemophilus influenzae) and challenged with K. pneumoniae culture on day 7 after immunization, the complete elimination of K. pneumoniae from the blood occurs within 24 hours. The subcutaneous immunization of rabbits with the above preparation leads to a significant increase in antibody titers, determined in the passive hemagglutination test with Klebsiella diagnosticum. The test of the passive protection of mice from Klebsiella sepsis has revealed a rise in the preventive activity of the sera of rabbits immunized with this preparation.     

核桃楸树皮提取物对志贺氏菌抑菌效果研究

目的：观察核桃楸树皮提取物对志贺氏茵的抑菌效果。方法：采用两倍稀释法和纸片琼脂扩散法考察桃楸树皮提取物对志贺氏茵的抑茵作用。结果：核桃楸树皮提取物对痢疾志贺氏Ⅰ型茵、痢疾志贺氏Ⅱ型菌、鲍氏志贺Ⅰ型茵、宋内氏志贺茵均为0．0313g／mL,福氏志贺Ⅱ型菌为O．0625g／mL。结论：核桃楸树皮提取物对志贺氏茵均有良好的抑菌作用,各菌对药物的敏感强弱顺序为：宋内氏志贺菌〉鲍氏志贺Ⅰ型菌〉痢疾志贺Ⅰ型菌〉痢疾志贺菌Ⅱ型菌〉福氏志贺Ⅱ型茵。     

The complete DNA sequence of the O antigen gene region of Plesiomonas shigelloides serotype O17 which is identical to Shigella sonnei form I antigen

We cloned and determined the sequence of a DNA region of approximately 15-kb containing the cluster of genes required for O17 antigen expression in the Escherichia coli K-12 strain from the chromosome of Plesiomonas shigelloides serotype O17:H2 strain. The sequencing analysis revealed that the minimum essential region of the P. shigelloides O17 antigen gene cluster had a size of approximately 11.5-kb and contained 9 contiguous open reading frames (ORFs), which were almost identical to the corresponding ORFs of Shigella sonnei form I antigen gene region, except for IS630 sequence, at the DNA as well as amino acid levels. The putative function of most of the ORFs could be determined on the basis of amino acid sequence similarities and characteristics. In addition, the G+C content of the P. shigelloides O17 antigen genes was lower than that of the chromosomal DNA of P. shigelloides and S. sonnei, suggesting that both P. shigelloides O17 and S. sonnei form I antigen genes had been derived from the same origin with a low G+C content.     

Differences among Shigella spp. in susceptibility to the bactericidal activity of human serum

Clinical isolates of Shigella spp. were examined for their susceptibility to human serum. The susceptibility of the strains to immune and nonimmune human serum was dependent upon the size of the bacterial inoculum and the concentration of serum. There were differences among Shigella spp. in susceptibility to human serum: S. sonnei strains were the least susceptible, strains of S. boydii and S. flexneri serotype 6 were intermediate, and those of S. flexneri other than serotype 6 and S. dysenteriae were the most susceptible. Experiments in which heat-treated (56 degrees C for 30 min, or 50 degrees C for 20 min) serum was used, and analysis of activation of complement by lipopolysaccharides (LPS) from each Shigella sp., suggested that LPS composition, especially the O antigen polysaccharide chains, contributes to the differences among Shigella spp. in susceptibility to human serum.     

Study of the conditions of activation and stabilization of DNA-methylases from Shigella sonnei 47 during fractionation, purification and storage

A comparative study of activation factors and stabilization conditions of partially purified and individual fractions of DNA-methylases of Shigella sonnei 47 was carried out. The stability of DNA-methylases in the course of storage was examined. The influence of activating factors and stabilization conditions differed significantly depending on the degree of purification and composition of methylase preparations. It was shown that glycerol is ineffective as a stabilizing agent. The activating effect of Ca2+ on Shigella sonnei 47 DNA-methylases was found to be universal, while albumin was shown to exert a more potent stabilizing action. The inactivating effect of proteases on DNA methylation enzymes during storage was demonstrated. A phenomenon of spontaneous fluctuations in the methylating activity of enzymatic preparations of Shigella sonnei 47 upon storage was observed.     

Gene cloning and characterization of alanine racemases from Shigella dysenteriae, Shigella boydii, Shigella flexneri, and Shigella sonnei.

Alanine racemase genes (alr) from Shigella dysenteriae, Shigella boydii, Shigella flexneri, and Shigella sonnei were cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli JM109. All genes encoded a polypeptide of 359 amino acids, and showed more than 99% sequence identities with each other. In particular, the S. dysenteriae alr was identical with the S. flexneri alr. Differences in the amino acid sequences between the four Shigella enzymes were only two residues: Gly138 in S. dysenteriae and S. flexneri (Glu138 in the other) and Ile225 in S. sonnei (Thr225 in the other). The S. boydii enzyme was identical with the E. coli K12 alr enzyme. Each Shigella alr enzyme purified to homogeneity has an apparent molecular mass about 43,000 by SDS-gel electrophoresis, and about 46,000 by gel filtration. However, all enzymes showed an apparent molecular mass about 60,000 by gel filtration in the presence of a substrate, 0.1 M l-alanine. These results suggest that the Shigella alr enzymes having an ordinary monomeric structure interact with other monomer in the presence of the substrate. The enzymes were almost identical in the enzymological properties, and showed lower catalytic activities (about 210 units/mg) than those of homodimeric alanine racemases reported.