Fifty years of dysentery research at the Pécs University.

Károly Rauss was appointed as head of the Department of Public Health of the Elisabeth University of Pécs in 1946, Professor Rauss's carrier had started working with Professor Hugó Preisz in Budapest. During his residency years he was already appointed to the Department of Bacteriology chaired by Lovrekovics at the National Institute of Public Health. In this institution--as in all organizations affiliated with the Rockefeller Institute--the state of art diagnostic work together with research focusing on problems derived from everyday medical and public health practice was considered as to be of primary importance.

Synthesis of the repeating unit of the O-specific polysaccharide of Shigella sonnei and quantitation of its serologic activity.

The chemical synthesis of the zwitterionic disaccharide 2 is described that corresponds to the repeating unit of the O-specific polysaccharide (1) of the gram-negative human pathogen Shigella sonnei. Passive hemolysis inhibition tests using a hyperimmune rabbit serum raised against S. sonnei showed that the serologic activity of the disaccharide 2 is nearly 2- to 3-fold higher than those of its component monosaccharides.

Correlation between human lactoferrin binding and colicin susceptibility in Escherichia coli.

Escherichia coli H10407 demonstrated low 125I-human lactoferrin (HLf) binding (7%) and was insusceptible to group A (A, E1, E2, E3, E6, and K) and group B (B, D, Ia, Ib, and V) colicins. Conversely, a spontaneous HLf high-binding (44%) variant, H10407(Lf), demonstrated an increase susceptibility to both colicin groups. Colicin-insusceptible E.

Isolation of adenosine 5'-diphosphate-L-glycero-D-mannoheptose, the assumed substrate of heptose transferase(s), from Salmonella minnesota R595 and Shigella sonnei Re mutants.

From heptose transferase-less Re mutants of Salmonella minnesota and Shigella sonnei, a mixture of nucleotide-linked heptoses was isolated. After paper chromatography in different solvent systems, ADP derivatives of D-glycero-D-mannoheptose and L-glycero-D-mannoheptose could be isolated in pure form. The structure of ADP-L-glycero-D-mannoheptose was verified by analytical methods and by transformation of ADP-D-glycero-D-mannoheptose with ADP-D-glycero-D-mannoheptose-6-epimerase.

Isolation of adenosine 5'-diphosphate-D-glycero-D-mannoheptose. An intermediate in lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis of Shigella sonnei.

From a Shigella sonnei R mutant which incorporates into its cell wall lipopolysaccharide D-glycero-D-mannoheptose and contains no L-glycero-D-mannoheptose, a nucleotide-linked sugar was isolated and identified as adenosine 5'-diphosphate-D-glycero-d-mannoheptose by chemical and chromatographic analysis. This intermediary compound is assumed to play a role in heptose biosynthesis of Enterobacteria.