Function analysis of projections on the surface of Chlamydia trachomatis organisms, major pathogens of sexually transmitte diseases

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To study the function of surface projections of C.trachomatis and C.psittaci organisms, we examined following three points ; (1) establishment of an efficient method for mass-production of projections, (2) protein composition of isolated projections and (3) effect of anti-projection antibody on the chlamydial infectivity. The results are summarized as follows ; (1) the projections were efficiently extracted from envelopes of elementary bodies (EBs) through a newly designed procedures including Sarkosyl treatment and seacryl S-1000 gel-filtration without any damage to the morphology of projections. (2) the silver staining after PAGE showed two miner bands (30 and 32 KDa) and one major band (36KDa), although no band was detected by the Coomassie brilliant brilliant blue staining. From the results of electron microscopic observations and PAGE,the stem part of projection appeared to be composed of 36KDa protein subunits. (3) Rabbit sera hyperimmunized with intact EBs were reactive with isolated projections after adsorption with EB outer membranes and showed neutralizing activity to the EB infectivity. However, sera prepared with 36KDa protein, which was transferred onto a cellulose membrane and then was implanted subcutaneously, did not show any reacivity with isolated projections, indicating insufficient quantity of 36KDa protein for antibody production.