Sensitivity of rough gram-negative bacteria to the bactericidal action of serum.

Three Salmonella minnesota rough mutants were found to be more sensitive to the bactericidal action of antibody and complement than was the parent smooth strain. The antibodies involved were shown to be against components which are all present in the smooth parent strain and are not identical with the lipopolysaccharides isolated by the phenol-water extraction procedure. The lipopolysaccharide of the smooth strain was shown to confer resistance by blocking access of antibody to the sensitive antigens.