Nature of the lipopolysaccharide of Bacteroides ureolyticus

Abstract Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) extracted from 33 clinical isolates of Bacteroides ureolyticus were examined by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and silver staining. Variable results were obtained with proteinase K-digested whole-cell lysates, but the LPS was shown conclusively to be of the smooth type, exhibiting O side chains, when phenol-water extracts were used. Heterogeneity among the smooth LPS profiles of the strains of B. ureolyticus suggested that such profiles might be useful for typing unknown clinical strains.