Flagellar proteins of motile spores of Actinomycetes

Flagella of some of the actinoplanete genera were purified and the molecular sizes of their flagellin subunits compared by SDS-PAGE analysis to flagellins of cells of other bacteria. Several species of Actinoplanes have a major flagellar protein of subunit sizes of 42-43 kDa and a lesser amount of a second protein, possibly a minor flagellin subunit, of 60 kDa. The flagellar protein sizes of other actinoplanetes ranged from 32-43 kDa (major) and 48-58 kDa (minor). Antibodies formed against the 42-kDa protein of A. rectilineatus showed cross-reactivity in Western blots against flagellar proteins of spores of other Actinoplanes species, two species of Dactylosporangium and an Ampullariella species. Cross-reactivity was also observed with motile cells of two other actinomycetes, Arthrobacter atrocyaneus and a Geodermatophilus species, and with Bacillus subtilis. No cross-reactivity was observed with Escherichia coli or Planomonospora parontospora flagellar proteins. The amino acid composition and partial N-terminal sequence of the 42-kDa flagellar protein of A. rectilineatus was compared to literature data for other bacterial flagellins and found to be most similar to B. subtilis 168.