Lipopolysaccharide smooth-rough phase variation in bacteria of the genus Chlamydia.
In two strains of Chlamydia psittaci and in Chlamydia trachomatis serotype L1, we have detected a so-far-unknown antigen which (i) is resistant to heat and proteolytic digestion, (ii) can be extracted with phenol-water into the water phase, (iii) gives a ladder-like banding pattern in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, (iv) is immunogenic in rabbits and mice, and (v) contains immunoreactivity of lipid A, a common and characteristic component of gram-negative lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Thus, chlamydiae contain, in addition to the known rough-type LPS, another LPS type which is phenotypically smooth (S-LPS). S-LPS was observed preferentially in chlamydiae grown in the yolk sac of embryonated eggs; it was, however, also detected by immunofluorescence in tissue culture-grown chlamydiae with a monoclonal antibody against S-LPS.
Lukácová
M
M
Division of Biochemical Microbiology, Forschungsinstitut Borstel, Institut für Experimentelle Biologie und Medizin, Germany.
Baumann
M
M
Brade
L
L
Mamat
U
U
Brade
H
H
D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology; D001483:Base Sequence; D002689:Chlamydia / Q000276:immunology*; D007106:Immune Sera / Q000276:immunology; D008050:Lipid A / Q000276:immunology; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011817:Rabbits
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D007106:Immune Sera; D008050:Lipid A; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides