Determination of viridans streptococci surface lipoteichoic acid by enzyme linked immune sorbent assay.

ABSTRACT

An enzyme linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to measure bacterial surface lipoteichoic acid (LTA). Numerous strains of oral streptococci belonging to the 'viridans' group were examined on three separate occasions. The results show that, under these cultural conditions, oral streptococci do not normally express LTA on the cell surface. Occasionally strains produced amounts of LTA detectable using the ELISA but this was not a reproducible phenomenon.