IMMUNOCHEMICAL CLASSIFICATION OF HIOCHI B ACTERIA AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THEIR CELL-SURFACE ANTIGENS BY MEANS OF SPECIFIC ANTI-HIOCHI BACTERIAL MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODIES

A total of 855 strains of hiochi bacteria were isolated from sake from four sake breweries, and the reactivity spectra of ten monoclonal ant ibodies (MAbs) specific to these isolates were examined by enzyme-link ed immunosorbent assay(ELISA). It was found that spectral comparison c ould be used as a highly sensitive and rapid procedure for immunochemi cal classification of the hiochi bacteria, and that the distribution o f hiochi bacteria varied considerably in the sake from one brewery to another. It is suggested that all the MAbs recognized hiochi bacterial cell-surface proteins. Of the ten MAbs, three (ho-H H7, ho-H D1 and h e-H H34) recognized a portion of the carbohydrate of their protein. Fu rthermore, their antigen was present over all the cell surface.