Ribitol-containing lipopolysaccharides from Proteus mirabilis and their serological relationship.

Ribitol phosphate was recently identified as a constituent of lipopolysaccharides obtained from 'proteus mirabilis strain D52 giving 1:4-anhydroribitol during acid hydrolysis (Gmeiner, 1975). Two other Proteus mirabilis strains belonging to serogroups O16 and O33 were shown previously to contain an unknown compoound X as lipopolysaccharide constituent (Kotelko et al., 1975). In this report the identification of compound X as 1:4-anhydroribotol by gas-liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry and mass fragmentography is described. Serological investigations using passive hemagglutination, hemagglutination inhbition and semi-quantitative precipitin reactions indicate strongly that ribitol plays a role in the serological specificity of the respective lipopolysaccharides.