ANTIGENIC CHARACTERISTICS OF POLYPEPTIDES OF COXIELLA-BURNETII ISOLATES

Eighteen Coxiella burnetii strains from a variety of clinical and geog raphical sources were screened for antigenic variation of polypeptides by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAG E) coupled with Coomassie brilliant blue (CBB) staining or immunoblott ing. These polypeptide profiles showed the greatest variability in the region from 33 to 8.1 kDa, Such differences in the antigenicity of th e polypeptides were also recognized by immunoblotting with 15 various mouse anti-C., burnetii antisera, In addition, we detected a polypepti de at about 28 kDa which was immunodominant in strains from human case s of acute Q fever, milk and ticks but not immunogenic in strains from human cases of chronic Q fever, These findings suggest that this poly peptide is a marker to distinguish between acute and chronic strains.