Development of Precipitins for Protein, Lipoid and Carbohydrate Fractions of S and R Forms of Tubercle Bacilli

Abstract

Summary Complement-fixation had shown that there were antigenic differences between the S and R forms of the tubercle bacillus, the precipitation tests recorded in this paper indicate small differences in the protein and carbohydrate substances in S and R organisms, although both chemical groups have common fractions. Lipoid fractions show no type specificity. During the process of immunization with killed S tubercle bacilli, there is a relative increase in precipitins for proteins and carbohydrates from S organisms over that of precipitins for R proteins and carbohydrates. R antisera on the other hand increased in relative reactivity with R protein. S antisera reacted relatively more strongly with purified globulin and polysaccharide preparations made from virulent cultures of human tubercle bacilli than did R antisera. The latter gave a relatively stronger reaction with purified albumin.