Probing the surface of Neisseria gonorrhoeae: immunoelectron microscopic studies to localize cyanogen bromide fragment 2 in gonococcal pili

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Abstract
Common epitopes accessible to antibody on purified macromolecules or structurally altered gonococci may not be accessible to antibody when those macromolecules are in their native state on the surface of intact organisms. To determine the immunologic accessibility of cyanogen bromide fragment 2 (CNBr2), a portion of the gonococcal pilin molecule that is common to all gonococcal strains on the surface of viable gonococci, probes composed of specific CNBr2 antibodies linked to gold spheres were manufactured. When whole piliated gonococci were exposed to these anti-CNBr2 immunological probes and examined using transmission electron microscopy, no significant marking of native pili was evident. These probes, however, detected CNBr2 in purified form. The epitones encompassed within the CNBr2 portion of pili appear to be inaccsessible to anti-CNBr2 probes within native gonococcal pili.