Presence of Specificity of Heat-Stable Somatic Antigens among Bacillus thuringiensis 17 Subspecies

Abstract

Detection of heat-stable somatic antigens (HSSA) specific to the type strains of 17 B. thuringiensis subspecies was examined using antisera absorbed with heterologous strains. HSSA of the 17 type strains was classified into 10 specific antigens and 3 group-specific antigens : thuringiensis, finitimus, sotto, dendrolimus, canadensis, subtoxicus, entomocidus, toumanoffii, thomposoni, kenyae, kurstaki-galleriae-aizawai, alesti-darmstadiensis and morrisoni-tolworthi.The precipitation reaction test showed that HSSA was also present in the supernatant of the heat-treated cell suspension.