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 compound 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 inhibition and semiquantitative precipitin reactions indicate strongly that ribitol plays a role in the serological specificity of the respective lipopolysaccharides.