Antigenic differences between Coxiella burnetii cells revealed by postembedding immunoelectron microscopy and immunoblotting.

The aim of this study was to investigate the antigenic structures of the morphologically distinct cells of the Coxiella burnetii developmental cycle. Postembedding immunoelectron microscopy with polyclonal antibodies produced in rabbits to (i) phase I cells, (ii) a chloroform-methanol residue fraction of cells, (iii) the cell walls (CW) of large and small cells and small dense cells (SDC), and (iv) the peptidoglycan-protein complexes of small cells and SDC labelled the continuum of morphologically distinct cells. But these antibodies did not distinguish between the antigenic structures of the various cells. Monoclonal antibodies to the phase I lipopolysaccharide labelled the CW of a majority of the smaller cells, but there was diminished reactivity to the larger cells. Although monoclonal antibodies to a 29.5-kDa outer membrane protein labelled the CW of the large mother cells, the large cells, and the small cells, a minority of the SDC with compact CW were not labelled. The endogenous spore within the mother cell was not labelled by the polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies to cellular components. A selected population of SDC was prepared by osmotic lysis of large cells, differential centrifugation, Renografin step-gradient fractionation, and breakage of the small cells in a French press at 20,000 lb/in2. The pressure-resistant SDC collected as fraction CL did not contain the 29.5-kDa protein, as evidenced by the lack of (i) Coomassie brilliant blue staining of protein in the 29.5-kDa region of sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels and (ii) reactivity of the 29.5-kDa protein antigenic epitopes in immunoblotting with monoclonal antibodies to the protein. In contrast, CW of the pressure-sensitive small cells contained the 29.5-kDa protein. Therefore, the observed ultrastructural differences between large and small cells and SDC reflect differences in sensitivity to breakage by pressure treatment and in cell-associated antigens. Although the process of differentiation in C. burnetii remains an enigma, we have taken steps toward identifying cellular antigens as markers of differentiation. The pressure-resistant SDC in fraction CL that are devoid of the 29.5-kDa protein may be useful for answering questions about the physiological events required for triggering outgrowth and sequential regulation of the Coxiella developmental cycle.