The biochemical and immunochemical characterisation of the 30 kilodalton surface antigen of Brugia pahangi

The major surface antigen (30 kDa) of Brugia pahangi has been characterised by a number of biochemical and immunochemical means. The 30 kDa polypeptide is a glycoprotein which can be extracted from the worm surface by homogenization in the absence of detergents. The 30 kDa polypeptide can be metabolically labelled with [35S]methionine in adult male and female parasites. In addition small amounts of the 35S-labelled 30 kDa antigen can be detected in the medium of worms cultured in vitro. 125I labelling of the excretory-secretory (ES) products of adult male and female parasites followed by immunoprecipitation and peptide mapping has confirmed the relationship between the surface located 30 kDa polypeptide and that released in vitro.