Abstract
We studied the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of Legionella pneumophila and six other Legionella species to determine whether strain differences were apparent. The LPS was purified by a cold ethanol extraction procedure, and total carbohydrates represented 10 to 20% of LPS weight. 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate represented 1 to 13% of the total carbohydrate present in the LPS. By sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, all strains except L. dumoffi showed smooth-type LPS with multiple high-molecular-weight complexes. Proteinase K-treated, whole-cell lysates showed profiles similar to those of purified LPS. Each serogroup of L. pneumophila and each Legionella species had a distinct sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis profile. L. pneumophila lipid A is antigenically related to the lipid A of Enterobacteriaceae. In immunoblot assays with the LPS of L. pneumophila serogroups 1 to 6 as antigens, serogroup-specific immune monkey sera recognized homologous purified LPS, but not the LPS of the five heterologous serogroups. These studies indicate that LPS composition may be a determinant of serogroup specificity as defined by the immunofluorescence-based serogrouping schema for L. pneumophila and other Legionella species.