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Antigenic Relationships among Bacteriodes Species Studied by Rocket-Line Immunoelectrophoresis

Françoise Tessier^*, Claudine Quentin, Michèle Capdepuy and Roland Guinet

Laboratoire de Microbiologie, U. F. R. des Sciences Pharmaceutiques, Université de Bordeaux II, 146, rue Léo Saignat, 33076 Bordeaux Cedex, France

^* Corresponding author.

ABSTRACT

Antigenic relationships among the 10 Bacteroides species, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella bivia, and Prevotella intermedia were investigated by rocket-line immunoelectrophoresis, using antigenic extracts prepared from type strains and antisera to Bacteroides fragilis, Bacteroides distasonis, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Prevotella intermedia. Among the members of the genus Bacteroides, B. fragilis, Bacteroides caccae, Bacteroides stercoris, Bacteroides vulgatus, B. thetaiotaomicron, and Bacteroides ovatus were found to be closely related, and B. distasonis and Bacteroides merdae were the species that were most distantly related to B. fragilis; Bacteroides eggerthii and Bacteroides uniformis were in an intermediate position. Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella bivia, and Prevotella intermedia shared very low percentages of common antigens with the Bacteroides species. Detection of enzymic activities in immunoprecipitates allowed us to identify some antigens to enzymes and to study the immunological similarities of the enzymes. The malate dehydrogenases of the Bacteroides species were genus specific, and the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenases of most species exhibited antigenic similarities. The esterases of B. distasonis and B. thetaiotaomicron appeared to be species specific, whereas the esterases and phosphatases of B. fragilis cross-reacted with the esterases and phosphatases of B. stercoris and B. vulgatus, as did the phosphatases of B. distasonis and B. merdae. The phosphatases of B. eggerthii, B. uniformis, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Prevotella intermedia were antigenically similar.