Studies on immunity in anthrax. VII. Carbohydrate metabolism of Bacillus anthracis in relation to elaboration of protective antigen.

The elaboration in vitro of protective antigen of Bacillus anthracis in chemically defined media has been described in previous reports (Wright etal., 1954a; Puziss and Wright, 1954). The alumprecipitated antigen was effective in immunization of laboratory and domestic animals and well tolerated in man (Wright et al., 1954b; Schlingman et al., 1956; Jackson et al., 1957). The antigen was elaborated in chemically defined media only under particular cultural conditions, and certain medium constituents were essential for accumulation of antigen in culture filtrates (Puziss and Wright, 1954). Accumulation of protective antigen also occurred under anaerobic conditions in a chemically defined medium (Wright and Puziss, 1957). Understanding of the mechanisms that determine elaboration of protective antigen of B. anthracis may provide a model for investigation of similar factors in other organisms. This paper presents observations on the influence of carbohydrate metabolism on this process.