108 



INTRODUCTION TO IMMUNOCHEMICAL SPECIFICITY 



These dideoxy sugars are all 3,6-dideoxyhex()se.s, and five have so 

 far been identified in natural antigens (Table 8-3). 



TABLE 8-3 

 Naturally Occurring 3,6-Dideoxyhexoses^ 



The structures of these dideoxyhexoses are shown in Fig. 8-1. 

 It will be noted that two of them, colitose and ascarylose, have the 

 configuration of the "unnatural" L-series of hexoses, which are sus- 

 pected of playing a role in the structure of the human Rh antigens 

 (see Chapter 7). This does not necessarily mean that any serological 

 similarities between the Salmonella antigens and the Rh blood group 

 antigens are to be expected, although this is a point which so far as 

 I know has not been tested. But it does tend to confirm our suspicion 

 that the "unnatural" sugars are more widely distributed in nature 

 than was expected. What their relative abundance will turn out to 

 be is another question. 



Relation of Structure of Salmonella 

 Antigens to Specificity 



Comparison of the results of chromatographic analyses of Sal- 

 monella antigens with their position in the Kaufifmann-White classi- 

 fication (Staub, Tinelli. Liideritz, and Westphal, 1959; Staub, I960: 

 Westphal, Liideritz, Staub, and Tinelli, 1959) showed that the 



