Antigenic Characteristic of the Lipopolysaccharides of Coxiella burnetii Isolates.

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) of 8 isolates of Coxiella burnetii from a variety of clinical and geographical sources could be divided into four groups based on molecular heterogeneity in silver-stained sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) profiles in the region of the 10 to 17 kDa. The lipopolysaccharide of group 1 was identified on isolates from acute Q fever patient, milk and tick. The three remaining groups were primarily found on isolates from human cases of chronic Q fever. These LPSs shared many antigenic epitopes, as determined by immunoblotting with mouse anti-C. burnetii antisera. -KEY WORDS: Coxiella burnetii, immunoblotting assay, lipopolysaccharide.

Comparison of Japanese Isolates of Coxiella burnetii by PCR‐RFLP and Sequence Analysis

“…Up to 1999, a limited number of Japanese isolates were studied after they were adapted for cell culture for large-scale cultivation (15,(23)(24)(25). The use of celladapted isolates raises the possibility that the isolates were selected to have a certain in vitro character of acute strains (high infectivity to cultured cells).…”

Use of Monoclonal Antibodies to Lipopolysaccharide for Antigenic Analysis of Coxiella burnetii

“…Many C. burnetii strains have been isolated from milk, ticks, and human patients with acute and chronic Q fever. Although all strains so far studied belong to the same serotype, it has become apparent that C. burnetii strains differ in their antigenic (3,17) and genetic (4,10,12,18,19) properties. The remarkable antigenic differences among strains are due to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (3).…”

“…The remarkable antigenic differences among strains are due to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (3). However, the components that differ among strains have not been elucidated because the LPS ladder-like bands are close together and share many antigenic epitopes (9,16). In addition, the differences among strains are confounded by an LPS change that occurs during serial passages in eggs or tissue culture-a process called phase variation (8).…”

“…The name, original source, and plasmid type for each strain are listed in Table 1. Other characteristics of each strain are described elsewhere (6,16,17). The samples of strains KAV and PAV used were purified LPSs (2), and the samples of other strains used were prepared from whole-cell lysates by digestion with proteinase K as described previously (6).…”

“…SDS-PAGE was carried out by using a 15% separating gel. The LPS profiles were observed by silver staining and Western blotting as described previously (16).…”