Taxonomic relationships among spotted fever group rickettsiae as revealed by antigenic analysis with monoclonal antibodies

Abstract

The spotted fever group (SFG) is made up of more than 20 different rickettsial species and strains. Study of the taxonomic relationships among the group has been attempted by phenotypic, genotypic, and phylogenetic analyses. In this study, we determined taxonomic relationships among the SFG rickettsiae by comparative analysis of immunogenic epitopes reactive against a panel of monoclonal antibodies. A total of 98 monoclonal antibodies, which were directed against epitopes on the major immunodominant proteins or on the lipopolysaccharide-like antigens of strains of Rickettsia africae, Rickettsia conorii, Rickettsia massiliae, Rickettsia akari, Rickettsia sibirica, and Rickettsia slovaca, were used in the study. The distribution and expression of the epitopes among 29 SFG rickettsiae and Rickettsia bellii were assessed by determination of reaction titers in a microimmunofluorescence assay. The results were scored as numerical taxonomic data, and cluster analysis was used to construct a dendrogram. The architecture of this dendrogram was consistent with previous taxonomic studies, and the implications of this and other findings are discussed.

FIG. 1

Taxonomic dendrogram of the 29 SFG rickettsiae and R. bellii obtained by using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean inferring S_J similarity based on different distribution and expression of the immunogenic epitopes on R. africae Z9-Hu, R. conorii Seven, R. massiliae Mtu1, R. akari Kaplan, R. sibirica Netsvetaev, and R. slovaca 13-B (A) and phylogenetic tree of the SFG rickettsiae derived from sequence alignment of the ompA gene (B). The scale bar (lower right) represents a 1.5% difference in nucleotide sequences. Bootstrap values are indicated at the nodes of the phylogenetic tree.