Antigens of Brucella abortus. I. Chemical and immunoelectrophoretic characterization.

Extracts of Brucella abortus 2308S, prepared either by aqueous extraction of sonically ruptured cells or by phenol-water extraction of whole cells, were subjected to various fractionation procedures and then analyzed to determine their immunoelectrophoretic patterns and chemical properties. Fraction A, prepared from sonic extracts, contained at least nine precipitable components when analyzed by immunoelectrophoresis. Of these, five components gave reactions of nonidentity with each other and, hence, represented separate antigens having unrelated determinant groups. Antigenic component IX, found in both the phenol and sonic extracts, did not form a precipitin line in the presence of serum that had been adsorbed with whole cells and was therefore tentatively identified as a "surface" antigen. From several lines of evidence, component IX was thought to be a lipopolysaccharide similar to the AP substance described by Miles and Pirie and shown by them to carry the "abortus" and "melitensis" determinant groups.