Comparison of conidial and mycelial allergens of Alternaria alternata.

Alternaria allergens, separated by SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and transferred onto a nitrocellulose membrane, were identified using sera from Alternaria-allergic patients. 30 Alternaria components of spore and mycelium, ranging in molecular weight from more than 150 to 12 kD, bound IgE antibodies. 15 were detected by more than 25% of the sera and only 4 (85, 56, 42, 31 kD) by more than 50% of the sera. Among these four major allergens, the 56-kD component was present mostly in the spore extract, the 85- and 42-kD fractions in the mycelium extract and the 31-kD in both extracts. The 31-kD component showed the highest IgE binding and the highest frequency of binding (95% with mycelium extract and 79% with spore extract). It was composed of two subunits.