%0 Journal Article %A Brewin, N. J. %A Wood, E. A. %A Larkins, A. P. %A Galfre, G. %A Butcher, G. W. %T Analysis of Lipopolysaccharide from Root Nodule Bacteroids of Rhizobium leguminosarum Using Monoclonal Antibodies %D 1986 %J Microbiology, %V 132 %N 7 %P 1959-1968 %@ 1465-2080 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/00221287-132-7-1959 %I Microbiology Society, %X Summary: Monoclonal antibodies (McAb) that react with components of the bacteroid cell wall were isolated after immunization of rats with sonicated Rhizobium bacteroids from pea root nodules. More than 90% of the McAb reacted with lipopolysaccharides (LPS) from bacteroids and all of these cross-reacted with LPS from free-living cultures of the corresponding Rhizobium strains. Although LPS derived from free-living cultures of Rhizobium is very heterogeneous, detected as a ladder of immuno-staining bands after SDS–PAGE and electroblotting, the LPS from bacteroids is predominantly of the fast-migrating form. This observation suggests that LPS from bacteroids carries the core polysaccharide but lacks the repeating O-antigen oligosaccharide substituents that are usually found in free-living cultures. Three classes of McAb differed in their specificity for different Rhizobium strains, and differences in antigenicity were also observed between bacteroid and free-living cultures of the same strain. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-132-7-1959