Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1992 Aug;60(8):3405-15.
doi: 10.1128/iai.60.8.3405-3415.1992.

Growth characteristics and proteins of plaque-purified strains of Rickettsia tsutsugamushi

M F Moree  1 , B Hanson
Affiliations

Growth characteristics and proteins of plaque-purified strains of Rickettsia tsutsugamushi

M F Moree et al. Infect Immun. 1992 Aug.

Abstract

Six plaque-purified strains of Rickettsia tsutsugamushi (Karp, Gilliam, Kato, JC472B, TA716, and TA763) that fall into three categories of virulence for mice were compared by several parameters. Five of the six strains formed plaques of identical size in mouse cells, but each of three strains tested (representing three mouse virulence types) had a different doubling time in mouse cell cultures. Neither of these properties correlated strictly with virulence in mice, although the avirulent TA716 strain replicated much more slowly than the more virulent Karp and Gilliam strains. R. tsutsugamushi strain heterogeneity was also manifested at the polypeptide level by migration rates in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels of three of the major scrub typhus antigens (Sta110, Sta56, and Sta47), with those of Sta110 differing most widely. As expected, immunoblotting with polyclonal mouse sera showed substantial cross-reactivity among the major antigens of the six strains. Similar tests with Karp-induced monoclonal antibodies (MAb) demonstrated that some epitopes on Sta110 and Sta56 were shared by fewer than the six strains, but they identified no epitope unique to Karp. In contrast to the ready demonstration of antigenic heterogeneity in Sta110 and Sta56, four of the five Sta47-specific MAb reacted well with Sta47 from each of the six strains; the remaining MAb bound Sta47 from Karp and the Karp-like JC472B strain more strongly than Sta47 from the other four strains. The MAb also were useful in indicating the possible occurrence of Sta47 as dimers and trimers, the presence of Sta110 (as well as Sta56 and Sta47) in the rickettsial membrane, and the apparent interaction of the putative heat shock protein Sta58 with Sta47 or Sta47-Sta56 complexes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Microbiol Immunol. 1986;30(7):611-20 - PubMed
    1. Infect Immun. 1983 Oct;42(1):341-9 - PubMed
    1. Jpn J Med Sci Biol. 1979 Dec;32(6):337-44 - PubMed
    1. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1990;590:483-4 - PubMed
    1. Microbiol Immunol. 1988;32(11):1085-92 - PubMed

Publication types