IMMUNOLOGICAL RELATEDNESS OF THE LAMB PROTEINS AMONG MEMBERS OF ENTEROBACTERIACEAE

We have studied the immunological relatedness of LamB proteins from a wide range of enterobacterial species, using antibodies directed again st denatured Escherichia coli K12 and Klebsiella pneumoniae LamB prote ins (LamBE.c. and LamBK.p., respectively), and anti-peptide antibodies directed against 10 distinct loops of LamB from E. coli K12 predicted to protrude either side of the outer membrane. We have shown that a p rotein immunologically related to LamBE.c. and LamBK.p. was present in all members of Enterobacteriaceae tested. A protein recognized by sev eral anti-peptide antibodies was identified in E. coli, Shigella sonne i, Salmonella typhimurium and Kleb. pneumoniae, as well as in two Citr obacter species, two Enterobacter species and Kluyvera ascorbata. The recognition patterns obtained with the anti-peptide antibodies were in agreement with the LamB protein sequence data available. They indicat ed that the cell surface and also the periplasmic loops of LamB are su bject to great antigenic variability.