The envelope glycoprotein of small ruminant lentiviruses (SRLV) is a major target of the humoral immune response and contains several linear B-cell epitopes. We amplified and sequenced the genomic segment encoding the SU5 antigenic site of the envelope glycoprotein of several SRLV field isolates. With synthetic peptides based on the deduced amino acid sequences of SU5 in an enzyme-linked immuno...

We have compared the binding of affinity-purified anti-PI”’ IgG from seven nonrelated donors with chimeric integrin subunit p3 molecules expressed in the baculovirus-Spodoptera frugiperda insect cell system. p3 chimeras were engineered t o include segments of antigenic human p3 sequences spliced t o intervening segments of nonantigenic Xenopusp3 sequence. Our results clearly show that antibodie...

Twenty-six human respiratory syncytial virus strains (subgroup A) isolated from three outbreaks in Havana City during the period 1994/95, 1995/96 and 1996/97 were analyzed to determine their antigenic and genetic relationships. Analyses were performed by monoclonal antibodies and restriction mapping (N gene) following amplification of the select region of the virus genome by polymerase chain re...

Antibody binding to surface antigens in membranes is the primary event in the specific immune defence of vertebrates. Here we used force microscopy to study the dynamics of antibody recognition of mutant purple membranes from Halobacterium salinarum containing a genetically appended anti-Sendai recognition epitope. Ligation of individual anti-Sendai antibodies to their antigenic epitopes was ob...

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is a hepatotropic member of the family Picornaviridae. Despite a remarkable antigenic stability, recent results have shown that HAV exists in vivo and in cell culture as distributions of genetically related, non-identical variants, referred to as quasispecies. To gain insight into HAV evolution over time in a specific geographical region, genotype I consensus sequences f...

Pf155 is a merozoite-derived polypeptide antigen which the parasite Plasmodium falciparum deposits in the membranes of erythrocytes at invasion. Eleven laboratory strains or clones of P. falciparum and a large number of isolates obtained from patients from different parts of the world were studied for antigenic diversity in Pf155. Immunoglobulin G antibodies from different serum samples from P....

The possibility that the distribution of skin lesions in some cutaneous diseases is due to variations in the antigenic properties of skin was investigated by mapping the expression of the skin-specific pemphigus vulgaris and bullous pemphigoid antigens in different regions of the body. The expression of both antigens was relatively stable within the same region, but varied between regions in a ...

FROM OBSERVATIONS OF FLUORESCENT ANTIBODY STAINING AND ANTIBODY STAINING IN ELECTRON MICROSCOPY, EVIDENCE IS PRESENTED FOR THE FOLLOWING: (a) Direct contact of the actin and myosin filaments occurs at all stages of contraction. This results in inhibition of antibody staining of the H-meromyosin portion of the myosin molecule in the region of overlap of the thin and thick filaments. (b) Small st...

The capsule polysaccharide locus (cps) is the site of the capsule biosynthesis gene cluster in encapsulated Streptococcus pneumoniae. A set of pneumococcal samples and non-pneumococcal streptococci from Denmark, the Gambia, the Netherlands, Thailand, the UK and the USA were sequenced at the cps locus to elucidate serologically mistyped or non-typable isolates. We identified a novel serotype 33B...

The discovery of antigenic variation in Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, provides a potential explanation for the chronic nature of infection as well as new insights into the genetic structure of highly recombinogenic loci responsible for combinatorial genetic diversification.