By means of immunelectrophoresis and paper chromatography strains belonging to Bacteroides fragilis, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, Bacteroides vulgatus, and Bacteroides distasonis as well as unidentified Bacteroides strains were shown to form the enzyme neuraminidase. Strains isolated from pathological material exhibited a significantly higher neuraminidase activity than isolates from stool specimens. The neuraminidase activity of B. fragilis strains was higher than that of the other Bacteroides species. Towards the various glycoproteins of human plasma the neuraminidase of B. fragilis showed a pronounced substrate specifity, which decreased in the following sequence: hemopexin, α2-HS-glycoprotein, γA-globulin, transferrin, acid α1-glycoprotein, haptoglobin, α1-antitrypsin, coeruloplasmin, β2,-glycoprotein-I and α2-macroglobulin. B. fragilis neuraminidase, which was statistically correlated with the pathogenicity of the species, differed from the neuraminidases of the other Bacteroides species by a stronger activity against the first five glycoproteins mentioned above.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Müller et al. (2008) studied this question.