TABLE 1.

Cell surface expression of the Fbs, Rib-like, α, and β proteins in 49 GBS isolates of serotype V^a

Surface protein(s) expressed	No. of strains (n = 49)	%
Individual proteinsb
Fbs	15	31
Rib-like	29	59
α	2	4
β	13	26
None	5	10
All combinations identifiedc
Fbs (only)	6	12
Fbs and β	6	12
Fbs, Rib-like, and β	2	4
Fbs, α, and β	1	2
Rib-like (only)	25	51
Rib-like and β	2	4
β (only)	1	2
α and β	1	2
None	5	10

^aAnalyzed by incubating whole bacteria with specific rabbit antibodies as described in Materials and Methods. In most cases, the results were unequivocal, but in a few cases, expression, or lack of expression, of a surface antigen was verified by Western blot analysis of bacterial extracts. 

^bFor individual proteins, the number of strains indicates the number of strains expressing a given protein. The total number of strains in this set of data is >49, since one strain may express more than one of the surface proteins. 

^cAll combinations of proteins identified in different strains. As indicated, some strains express only one protein (Fbs, Rib-like, or β), while other strains express combinations of different proteins.