High-performance liquid chromatography of staphylococcal enterotoxin B.

Size-exclusion, ion-exchange, and reversed-phase chromatography were investigated for use in purification and characterization of Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB), a 28,000 Mr protein associated with Staphylococcal food-borne intoxication. In all approaches chromatography of crude or purified SEB yielded one or more components which displayed toxin activity and contained the 28,000 Mr SEB protein plus other lower-molecular-weight protein species. Reversed-phase chromatography of detergent-treated SEB permitted resolution of the 28,000 Mr protein from lower-molecular-weight components.