This review covers the O antigens of the 46 serotypes of Shigella, but those of most Shigella flexneri are variants of one basic structure, leaving 34 Shigella distinct O antigens to review, together with their gene clusters. Several of the structures and gene clusters are reported for the first time and this is the first such group for which structures and DNA sequences have been determined for all O antigens. Shigella strains are in effect Escherichia coli with a specific mode of pathogenicity, and 18 of the 34 O antigens are also found in traditional E. coli. Three are very similar to E. coli O antigens and 13 are unique to Shigella strains. The O antigen of Shigella sonnei is quite atypical for E. coli and is thought to have transferred from Plesiomonas. The other 12 O antigens unique to Shigella strains have structures that are typical of E. coli, but there are considerably more anomalies in their gene clusters, probably reflecting recent modification of the structures. Having the complete set of structures and genes opens the way for experimental studies on the role of this diversity in pathogenicity.

中文翻译：

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志贺氏菌O抗原的结构和遗传学。

这篇综述涵盖了志贺氏杆菌46种血清型的O抗原，但是大多数弗氏志贺氏菌是一种基本结构的变异体，留下了34种志贺氏菌不同的O抗原及其基因簇。首次报道了几种结构和基因簇，这是第一个已确定所有O抗原的结构和DNA序列的组。志贺氏菌菌株实际上是具有特定致病性模式的大肠杆菌，在传统大肠杆菌中也发现了34种O抗原中的18种。其中三种与大肠杆菌O抗原非常相似，而13种是志贺氏菌菌株所独有的。痢疾志贺氏菌的O抗原对于大肠杆菌而言是非常不典型的，并且被认为是从Plesiomonas转移过来的。志贺氏菌菌株特有的其他12种O抗原具有典型的E结构。大肠杆菌，但它们的基因簇中有更多异常现象，可能反映了结构的最新变化。拥有完整的结构和基因集为这种多样性在致病性中作用的实验研究开辟了道路。