ABSTRACT
Different heteropolysaccharides or homopolysaccharides with variations in glycosidic linkages possess different antigenic determinants depending upon their complete chemical structure. The analytical procedure for identifying the antigenic determinants of yeast polysaccharides is conceptually similar to that of the antigenic polysaccharides of other sources. Accordingly, the cells of yeasts are extracted with hot water to yield a crude extract containing both serologically active and inactive polysaccharides. H. P. R. Seeliger investigated the serological relationship within each of several species of yeasts belonging to the genera Candida, Torulopsis, Trichosporon, and Saccharomyces, and provided information on the antigenic structures, in 1958. Oligosaccharides exhibiting the strongest precipitin inhibitory activity are assumed to correspond to the major antigenic determinants in the parent polysaccharide. To determine serological specificity, these oligosaccharides should be further investigated in terms of their cross reactivity with the polysaccharide-antiserum systems of antigenically different yeasts.
