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Updated: Aug 12, 2026

Capsular Serotyping of Streptococcus pneumoniae Using the Quellung Reaction
Published on: February 24, 2014
The capsular turnover product of Staphylococcus aureus strain Smith
1Department of Microbiology, Medical School, University of Newcastle, UK.
Abstract:
The capsular polysaccharide released from the bacterial surface by cell wall turnover during growth exhibited less size heterogeneity and a higher average molecular mass than the polysaccharide extracted from the cell by treatment with lysostaphin or low pH. Treatment of turnover polysaccharide, radiolabelled by growth of the bacteria in the presence of N-acetyl-[3H]-glucosamine, with muramidase B from Chalaropsis released a low molecular weight product chromatographically identical to the peptidoglycan degradation products released from the peptidoglycan-teichoic acid complex by the same treatment. It is concluded that some or all of the capsular polysaccharide released into the culture fluid during growth is derived from peptidoglycan-linked capsular material, solubilised by cell wall turnover.
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