Skip to main content
PMC home page
Infection and Immunity logoLink to Infection and Immunity
. 1992 Jul;60(7):2588–2592. doi: 10.1128/iai.60.7.2588-2592.1992

The coccidioidal complement fixation and immunodiffusion-complement fixation antigen is a chitinase.

S M Johnson 1, D Pappagianis 1
PMCID: PMC257207  PMID: 1612728

Abstract

Culture filtrates and autolysates of Coccidioides immitis have provided suitable crude antigens for the serodiagnosis and prognosis of coccidioidomycosis. One of these, a heat-labile antigen which participates in the immunodiffusion reaction corresponding to the complement fixation reaction (IDCF), has been characterized as a 110-kDa native protein that, when subjected to reducing conditions and heat, yields a 48-kDa component. The present report provides serologic and biochemical evidence that this antigen is a chitinase. This chitinase, isolated from 48-h culture filtrate of the spherule-endospore-phase C. immitis by affinity adsorption to chitin, formed a line of identity with the IDCF reference antigen and participated in the complement fixation reaction with human serum. It lost its enzymatic as well as antigenic activity when heated, but when not heated it retained its enzymatic activity even when precipitated with coccidiodal antibody present in human serum. This chitinase represents a significant serodiagnostic substance and may be important in the morphogenesis of C. immitis.

Full text

PDF
2590

Images in this article

2590Image
on p.2590
2590Image
on p.2590
2590Image
on p.2590
2591Image
on p.2591

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Cole G. T., Zhu S. W., Pan S. C., Yuan L., Kruse D., Sun S. H. Isolation of antigens with proteolytic activity from Coccidioides immitis. Infect Immun. 1989 May;57(5):1524–1534. doi: 10.1128/iai.57.5.1524-1534.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Cox R. A., Britt L. A., Michael R. A. Isolation of Coccidioides immitis F antigen by immunoaffinity chromatography with monospecific antiserum. Infect Immun. 1987 Jan;55(1):227–232. doi: 10.1128/iai.55.1.227-232.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Hamilton A. J., Bartholomew M. A., Figueroa J., Fenelon L. E., Hay R. J. Evidence that the M antigen of Histoplasma capsulatum var. capsulatum is a catalase which exhibits cross-reactivity with other dimorphic fungi. J Med Vet Mycol. 1990;28(6):479–485. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Hector R. F., Pappagianis D. Inhibition of chitin synthesis in the cell wall of Coccidioides immitis by polyoxin D. J Bacteriol. 1983 Apr;154(1):488–498. doi: 10.1128/jb.154.1.488-498.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Kaufman L., Clark M. J. Value of the concomitant use of complement fixation and immunodiffusion tests in the diagnosis of coccidioidomycosis. Appl Microbiol. 1974 Oct;28(4):641–643. doi: 10.1128/am.28.4.641-643.1974. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. LEVINE H. B., COBB J. M., SMITH C. E. Immunity to coccidioi-domycosis induced in mice by purified spherule, arthrospore, and mycelial vaccines. Trans N Y Acad Sci. 1960 Apr;22:436–449. doi: 10.1111/j.2164-0947.1960.tb00711.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. LOWRY O. H., ROSEBROUGH N. J., FARR A. L., RANDALL R. J. Protein measurement with the Folin phenol reagent. J Biol Chem. 1951 Nov;193(1):265–275. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Laemmli U. K. Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature. 1970 Aug 15;227(5259):680–685. doi: 10.1038/227680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Mason A. B., Brandt M. E., Buckley H. R. Enolase activity associated with a C. albicans cytoplasmic antigen. Yeast. 1989 Apr;5(Spec No):S231–S239. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Merril C. R., Goldman D., Sedman S. A., Ebert M. H. Ultrasensitive stain for proteins in polyacrylamide gels shows regional variation in cerebrospinal fluid proteins. Science. 1981 Mar 27;211(4489):1437–1438. doi: 10.1126/science.6162199. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. PAPPAGIANIS D., LINDSEY N. J., SMITH C. E., SAITO M. T. ANTIBODIES IN HUMAN COCCIDIOIDOMYCOSIS: IMMUNOELECTROPHORETIC PROPERTIES. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1965 Jan;118:118–122. doi: 10.3181/00379727-118-29773. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. PAPPAGIANIS D., SMITH C. E., KOBAYASHI G. S., SAITO M. T. Studies of antigens from young mycelia of Coccidioides immitis. J Infect Dis. 1961 Jan-Feb;108:35–44. doi: 10.1093/infdis/108.1.35. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Pappagianis D., Zimmer B. L. Serology of coccidioidomycosis. Clin Microbiol Rev. 1990 Jul;3(3):247–268. doi: 10.1128/cmr.3.3.247. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Resnick S., Pappagianis D., McKerrow J. H. Proteinase production by the parasitic cycle of the pathogenic fungus Coccidioides immitis. Infect Immun. 1987 Nov;55(11):2807–2815. doi: 10.1128/iai.55.11.2807-2815.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Resnick S., Zimmer B., Pappagianis D., Eakin A., McKerrow J. Purification and amino-terminal sequence analysis of the complement-fixing and precipitin antigens from Coccidioides immitis. J Clin Microbiol. 1990 Feb;28(2):385–388. doi: 10.1128/jcm.28.2.385-388.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. SMITH C. E., SAITO M. T., BEARD R. R., KEPP R. M., CLARK R. W., EDDIE B. U. Serological tests in the diagnosis and prognosis of coccidioidomycosis. Am J Hyg. 1950 Jul;52(1):1–21. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a119404. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. SMITH C. E., SAITO M. T., SIMONS S. A. Pattern of 39,500 serologic tests in coccidioidomycosis. J Am Med Assoc. 1956 Feb 18;160(7):546–552. doi: 10.1001/jama.1956.02960420026008. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Sawaki Y., Huppert M., Bailey J. W., Yagi Y. Patterns of human antibody reactions in coccidioidomycosis. J Bacteriol. 1966 Jan;91(1):422–427. doi: 10.1128/jb.91.1.422-427.1966. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Strockbine N. A., Largen M. T., Zweibel S. M., Buckley H. R. Identification and molecular weight characterization of antigens from Candida albicans that are recognized by human sera. Infect Immun. 1984 Feb;43(2):715–721. doi: 10.1128/iai.43.2.715-721.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Towbin H., Staehelin T., Gordon J. Electrophoretic transfer of proteins from polyacrylamide gels to nitrocellulose sheets: procedure and some applications. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Sep;76(9):4350–4354. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.9.4350. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Zimmer B. L., Pappagianis D. Characterization of a soluble protein of Coccidiodes immitis with activity as an immunodiffusion-complement fixation antigen. J Clin Microbiol. 1988 Nov;26(11):2250–2256. doi: 10.1128/jcm.26.11.2250-2256.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Zimmer B. L., Pappagianis D. Comparison of immunoblot analyses of spherule-endospore-phase extracellular protein and mycelial-phase antigen of Coccidioides immitis. Infect Immun. 1986 Jul;53(1):64–70. doi: 10.1128/iai.53.1.64-70.1986. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Infection and Immunity are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES