Carbohydrate Specificity of Antibodies against Phytopathogenic Fungi of the Aspergillus Genus

Brush rabbits were immunized with injections prepared from the fungi Aspergillus fumigatus , Aspergillus niger , and Aspergillus repens . A library of synthetic biotinylated oligosaccharides containing the key fragments of antigenic polysaccharides of the fungal cell wall—galctomannan, α- and β-glucans, mannan, and chitin—was used to analyze carbohydrate specificity. The anticarbohydrate antibodies obtained from animals immunized with preparations from A. fumigatus and A. repens predominantly recognized epitopes containing galactofuranoside residues, while the majority of the antibodies against A. niger bound the chitooligosaccharide ligand. These results are the basis for the identification of specific markers required for the development of immunoenzyme test systems.