The Detection of Starvation-specific Antigens in Two Marine Bacteria

SUMMARY: Antisera produced against starved cells of two marine bacteria (a Vibrio sp. and an unidentified Gram-negative motile rod) were titrated in order to quantify with respect to time of starvation the appearance of starvation-specific antigens. Polyacrylamide gels of lipopolysaccharide digests, and of total protein and membrane and periplasmic fractions, were prepared, blotted and immunoassayed to determine the location(s) of the antigenic response. For the Vibrio isolate, no starvation-specific antigens were detected, but such antigens were detected for the other isolate; they were proteinaceous and were located in the outer membrane and periplasmic space. Titrations of whole cells indicated that the antigenic change in the cell surface occurred in the initial phase of starvation and increased during the first 14 h of the starvation period studied.