Binding sites of attachment-inhibiting monoclonal antibodies and antibodies from patients on peptide fragments of the Mycoplasma pneumoniae adhesin.

The adherence protein (P1 protein) of Mycoplasma pneumoniae was purified by electroelution and cleaved with cyanogen bromide. The resulting peptides were separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis. Spots reacting in Western immunoblots with two attachment-inhibiting monoclonal antibodies were isolated, and the amino-terminal ends of these peptides were microsequenced. The two monoclonal antibodies had different binding sites. One was associated with the amino-terminal region of the whole P1 protein beginning at amino acid position 237, and the other was associated with amino acid position 702, which was localized approximately in the middle of the P1 amino acid sequence. Serum samples from three M. pneumoniae-infected patients were tested by Western blotting against the cyanogen bromide peptide pattern. All three serum samples reacted with peptide fragments beginning at amino acid position 702, but the serum of only one patient also had antibodies against the oligopeptides beginning at amino acid position 237. These results indicate that the corresponding epitopes of the P1 protein are also immunogenic if they are presented at the surface of the infecting organism.