Relationship of capsular type to biochemical and immunological properties of teichoic acid preparations from unencapsulated strains of Staphylococcus aureus.

We investigated the biochemical and immunological characteristics of teichoic acid preparations (TAP) obtained from four unencapsulated strains of Staphylococcus aureus which nonetheless, according to the serum-soft agar technique, produced capsular type antigen and were representative of the four types A, B, C, and D. In the agar diffusion test, TAP of each strain produced a single precipitin line only against rabbit antisera corresponding to the homologous capsular type; no lines were observed against antisera to the heterologous capsular type. All TAP were ribitol type except one, glycerol, prepared from a capsular type D strain. Major acetylglucosaminyl residues of TAP from strains having capsular type A and C antigens were attached to the polyribitol phosphate by beta-linkage, whereas TAP from a type B antigen strain had an alpha-linkage; type D antigen was attached to the polyglycerol phosphate by the beta-linkage. Chemical analyses and infrared spectrograms of these TAP further confirmed their heterogeneous nature.