Immunological Comparisons of Teliospores of Two Wheat Bunt Fungi, Tilletia Species, Using Monoclonal Antibodies and Antisera

Abstract

Immunologic analyses of teliospore surfaces using polyclonal antisera and monoclonal antibodies indicated that Tilletia controversa and Tilletia caries were very similar. Although two polysaccharide antigens were present in teliospore extracts, these components appeared to be immunologically identical in both species and no protein antigens were demonstrated by either electrophoretic or immunologic means. Spectrophotometric analyses of surface extracts also indicated no extractable protein. None of seven fluorescein-labeled lectins bound these teliospores, even after the spores were treated with 8 M urea to enhance exposure of potential lectin-binding sites. An antibody “double sandwich” enzyme immunoassay demonstrated quantitative differences in the numbers of certain monoclonal antibody binding sites of the two fungi, although these differences did not provide a basis for the unambiguous detection of either bunt species in contaminated wheat shipments. No qualitative distinction of the two species was found by any of the methods used in this study.