Serological relationships among flagella of Erwinia carotovor var. atroseptica and some E. carotovora var. carotovora serogorups

Abstract

The 2 Erwinia carotovora var. atroseptica serogroups and 2 out of 16 E. carotovora var. carotovora serogroups previously established on the basis of diffusible somatic antigens were shown to be serologically related by agglutination procedures using whole cells. The common agglutinating antigen in serogroups I, III, V, and XVIII was heat labile and identified as the bacterial flagella by the fluorescent antibody staining procedure. A few strains in serogorups I and III apparently lacked flagella altogether. Fluorescent antibody staining of whole cells also confirmed that the cell wall antigens of serogroups I, II, and XVIII were related and that the cell wall antigens of serogroups III and V were not related to each other or to the other serogroups.