Capsulation of pneumococcus with soluble cell wall-like polysaccharide. II. Nonidentity of cell wall and soluble cell wall-like polysaccharides derived from the same and from different pneumococcal strains.

Methods are described for the separation of the C or cell wall polysaccharide from the C(s) or soluble C-like capsular polysaccharide of C(s) pneumococcal strains. Immunologic analysis has shown that both the C and C(s) polysaccharides of a variety of pneumococcal strains are heterogeneous and that the dissimilarities appear to reside in the mucopeptide portion of the molecule or in the region of its attachment to the teichoic acid moiety of the molecule rather than in the teichoic acid fraction. Differences of the type described have been observed in the C polysaccharides of wild-type capsulated strains of several types, in those of independently isolated noncapsulated variants derived from a single strain of a given capsular type, and in the C and C(s) polysaccharides of spontaneous mutant or transformed strains of pneumococci producing capsules of C(s) polysaccharide.