Ljm. Gerritsen et al., POLYCLONAL ANTISERA TO DISTINGUISH STRAINS AND FORM VARIANTS OF PHOTORHABDUS (XENORHABDUS) LUMINESCENS, Applied and environmental microbiology, 61(1), 1995, pp. 284-289
In this study antisera against Photorhabdus luminescens strains were p
repared for the first time. P. luminescens is a bacterial symbiont of
entomopathogenic nematodes belonging to the genus Heterorhabditis. To
characterize P. luminescens strains and form variants, we produced pol
yclonal antisera against P. luminescens PE (obtained from nematode str
ain NLH-E87.3) and against the primary and secondary forms of P. lumin
escens PSH (obtained from nematode strain DH-SH1). In double-diffusion
tests all form variants of strain PE reacted with the antiserum again
st the primary form, but each variant produced a different diffusion p
attern. The primary and secondary forms of strain PSH were also serolo
gically different. Antiserum 9226 reacted with almost all P. luminesce
ns strains tested, but it reacted differently with each strain in the
double-diffusion test, showing that the strains were serologically dif
ferent. The specificity of the antisera was increased by cross-absorpt
ion. After cross-absorption the antiserum against the strain PSH prima
ry or secondary form was specific for that form and did not react with
the other form. Using the cross-absorbed antisera in immunofluorescen
ce cell-staining tests, we could distinguish primary and secondary for
m cells in a mixed strain PSH culture.