A simple immunological analysis of plant cell wall component epitopes prese
nt in 16 gum exudates obtained from 13 species of Acacia trees has shown th
at each of the gum samples studied had a unique composition. These analyses
demonstrated, that in some cases gums harvested from species in the same t
axonomic group exhibited wider differences in their composition of cell wal
l component epitopes as compared to gums from taxonomically unrelated speci
es. Furthermore, gums obtained from different sub-species of a single speci
es (e.g. A. nilotica and A. nilotica sspp. nilotica) were shown to have ver
y distinct chemical compositions. The results also demonstrated for the fir
st time, the presence of hydroxyproline-rich glycoprotein (HRGP) epitopes i
n the gum exudates of A. tortilis, A. nilotica, A. nilotica sspp. nilotica,
A. microbotrya, A. pycnantha and A. campylacantha. These clearly demonstra
te the utility of such immunological tests in chemotaxonomic analyses of th
is economically important class of plant gum exudates. (C) 1998 Elsevier Sc
ience Ltd. All rights reserved.