The murine immune response to a haptenated lipopolysaccharide (LPS) lacking repeating oligosaccharide determinants was studied. The LPS was extracted from a rough strain of bacteria (Salmonella minnesota R595) and chemically haptenated with either trinitrophenol or fluorescein isothiocyanate. These preparations of hapten-R595 LPS were shown to be immunogenic. Furthermore, the immune response to the hapten was demonstrated to occur independent of T cells and was not merely the result of enhanced polyclonal B-cell activation. The capacity of such hapten-LPS conjugates without repeating polymeric structures to stimulate T-independent antibody responses provides information on the molecular requirements for the activation of murine B lymphocytes.

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SUMMARY Antibody responses to the polysaccharide antigens of bacterial lipopolysaccharides and their hapten derivatives are herein documented to be under multigenic control. Among the genes responsible for the antibody response to these polysaccharide antigens include those coded for by genes located on the X chromosome and those on chromosome 17 linked to genes in the H‐2 and/or Qa loci. The use of B10 congenic mice revealed that two genes on chromosome 17 are involved in the regulation of the antibody response to bacterial polysaccharide antigens. The use of CXB recombinant inbred mice confirmed the multigenic control of the antibody response within their background array of genes. The data clearly demonstrate that immune responses to these polysaccharide antigens are under genetic control, the importance of which may be of significance with regard to humoral protection during gram‐negative infection.

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