Detection of Antigen Determinants and Peptide Mapping of the Membrane Proteins of Erwinia chrysanthemi Pathovars.

Abstract

Erwinia chrysanthemi strains isolated from various hosts were sero logically grouped with three antisera prepared against E. chrysanthemi strains Ku8601 isolated from pear, R8 from rice and 511-3 from corn. The strains isolated from carnation, pear, potato, onion, taro and welsh onion reacted with anti-Ku8601-serum, which were classified as serogroup I. Rice and corn strains respectively reacted with anti-R8 and anti-511-3 sera, showing high specificity which were classified as serogroup II and serogroup III. Membrane proteins of the bacterial strains belonging to each serogroup were separated with SDS-PAGE and immunoblotted on nitrocellulose sheet to determine antigenic proteins. The strains of serogroup I commonly possessed antigenic polypeptides of 38.5 and 5.9kd that were considered to be serogroup-specific antigens. While the strains of serogroup II possessed antigenic polypeptides of 41.7 and 11.2kd and those of serogroup III possessed 41.7, 40.3, 21.4 and 10.2kd, respectively. Close relationship was observed between serological property and host of origin only in rice and corn strains.