COMPARISON BY MEANS OF ANTISERA AND LECTINS OF SURFACE-STRUCTURES OF NITROBACTER-WINOGRADSKYI AND NITROBACTER-AGILIS

Nitrobacter winogradskyi was grown autotrophically on carbon dioxide and nitrite, mixotrophically on pyruvate and nitrite, and heterotrophically on acetate and pyruvate. N. agilis was grown autotrophically on carbon dioxide and nitrite and heterotrophically on pyruvate, acetate, and yeast extract-peptone. Antisera were then prepared against these cells. Strong cross-reactions occurred between all antisera raised against Nitrobacter agilis cells in the homologous and heterologous reactions with the differently grown Nitrobacter agilis cells. Similar results were obtained with N. winogradskyi; but there were differences between the heterotrophically grown cells and the autotrophically and mixotrophically grown cells. The autotrophically grown cells of N. winogradskyi and N. agilis had nearly no immunological differences, while the cross-reactions of the heterotrophically grown cells differed strongly. So, growth conditions are of considerable influence on the serological behavior of the two bacteria tested. Of twelve lectins tested, five (from Aaptos papillata, Axinella polypoides, Cerianthus sp., Ulex europeus, and Anti-H specific agglutinin of eel serum) agglutinated cells of N. agilis and N. winogradskyi, indicating that N-acetyl-glucosamine, galactose, and fucose may be present in the bacterial cell wall. Immunodiffusion showed that cells of both nitrifying organisms grown under different conditions had at least one antigenic surface structure in common. © 1979 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.