title: Dissecting the antigenic mosaic of the Archaebacterium Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum by monoclonal antibodies of defined molecular specificity.
abstract: The antigenic mosaic of the Archaebacterium Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum, strain delta H, was analyzed with a panel of six monoclonal antibodies. Five antigenic determinants were identified. One contains N-acetyl-D-glucosamine, another contains N-acetyl-D-galactosamine, and a third contains gamma-glutamylalanine (gamma-Glu-Ala). These residues are not involved, at least as immunodominant epitopes, in the other two determinants, one of which contains L-talosaminuronic acid, a component of pseudomurein found only in Methanobacteriaceae. Each of the five determinants was recognized by one monoclonal antibody exclusively. A sixth antibody recognized a structure containing gamma-Glu-Ala that could be either a sixth determinant or a subdeterminant within the site already recognized as containing gamma-Glu-Ala. We postulate that two of the determinants are strain specific, three are species specific, and one is a common antigen.
mesh_terms: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology*; D000939:Epitopes; D019605:Euryarchaeota / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology*; D010457:Peptidoglycan / Q000276:immunology; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D000939:Epitopes; D010457:Peptidoglycan; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial