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Cross‐Reactivity of Rickettsia japonica and Rickettsia typhi Demonstrated by Immunofluorescence and Western Immunoblotting
Author(s) -
Uchiyama Tsuneo,
Zhao Licheng,
Yan Yansheng,
Uchida Takahiro
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0385-5600
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1995.tb03298.x
Subject(s) - rickettsia typhi , antigenicity , biology , orientia tsutsugamushi , antigen , microbiology and biotechnology , rickettsiales , immunofluorescence , iif , rickettsia , proteinase k , murine typhus , antibody , gel electrophoresis , virology , kilodalton , typhus , scrub typhus , bacteria , indirect immunofluorescence , virus , immunology , dna , biochemistry , genetics
Cross‐reactivity between Rickettsia japonica and R. typhi was observed by immunofluorescence tests using sera from patients with Oriental spotted fever (OSF), from whom the causative agent was isolated and identified as R. japonica . Western immunoblotting with these sera revealed that only the 120‐kilodalton surface polypeptide, i.e., rickettsial outer membrane protein (rOmp) B, has a common antigenicity with the 105‐kilodalton surface polypeptide of R. typhi . In some cases, antibodies specifically reactive with R. typhi were detected in acute‐phase sera followed by a significant rise in titers, possibly because of an anamnestic response to a previous infection with an R. typhi ‐like agent; the sera retained reactivity to R. typhi even after absorption by a homologous strain. A lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐like antigen of R. typhi was found to be reactive with some sera of OSF patients. The ladder bands on Western immunoblot of rickettsial organisms were confirmed to be polysaccharide in nature, which was demonstrated by comparing them with the pattern of silver‐stained gel of proteinase K‐treated rickettsial specimens after sodium dodecyl sulfate‐polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.