Comparison of sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis profiles and antigenic relatedness among outer membrane proteins of 49 Brucella abortus strains.

Outer membrane proteins were solubilized from 49 strains of Brucella abortus by sequential extraction of physically disrupted cells with N-lauroylsarcosinate and a dipolar ionic detergent (Verstreate et al., Infect. Immun. 35:979-989, 1982). The strains tested included standard agglutination test strain 1119, virulent strain 2308, and eight reference strains representing each of the biotypes; the remainder were isolates from cattle in North America with natural infections and included biotypes 1, 2, and 4. Three principal protein groups with apparent molecular weights of 88,000 to 94,000 (group 1), 35,000 to 40,000 (group 2, now established as porins [Douglas et al., Infect. Immun. 44:16-21, 1984]), and 25,000 to 30,000 (group 3) were observed in every strain. Some variability in banding patterns occurred among strains, but intrastrain variation was sufficient to preclude the use of sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis profiles of outer membrane proteins for differentiating among strains of B. abortus. One antigen ([b]) was shared among the porin proteins, and three others ([c], ([d], and ([ e]) were shared among the group 3 proteins of all of the strains tested, indicating that these relationships are probably species wide. These results suggest that it may be possible to use outer membrane proteins from a representative strain of B. abortus in a vaccine for species-wide immunization.