Two monoclonal antibodies (116831 and H5TS) differed in their indirect immunofluorescence reactivity when tested against 14 strains of Lyme disease spirochetes. Strains were bound by both antibodies, by H6831 or H5TS alone, or by neither. Western blot and immunoprecipitation studies revealed that the determinants of both antibodies were associated with abundant proteins with apparent subunit molecular weights of ca. 34,000 (34K-range proteins). The following results indicated that the 34K-range proteins were exposed on the surface of the spirochetes. (i) Antibody H6831 agglutinated the spirochetes; (ii) immune electron microscopy showed that the H6831 determinant was associated with the outer membrane; (iii) radiolabeled H6831 bound to live organisms; and (iv) proteases effectively removed the 34K-range proteins from intact cells. With their demonstrated variability and exposure on the surface, the 34K-range proteins may contribute to the serotype specificity of Lyme disease spirochetes. A spirochete which was first discovered in Ixodes dammini ticks (12) is the etiological agent of Lyme disease (LD) (8, 9, 21) and probably of the related disorders erythema chronicum migrans (1, 13; K. Weber, G. Schierz, B. Wilske, and V. Preac-Mursic, Yale J. Biol. Med., in press) and tickassociated meningoradiculitis (Bannwarth's syndrome) (1, 17, 18) as well. The LD complex of syndromes has been reported from the continents of Europe, North America, and Australia (2, 22, 23). These LD spirochetes have to date been isolated from ticks, mammals, and humans in the United States (3, 8-10, 12, 21) and from ticks collected in areas of Europe where erythema chronicum migrans and tick-associated meningoradiculitis are endemic (5; R. Ackerman and B. Skoldenberg, personal communications). Although these spirochete isolates have shown considerable homogeneity in their polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) protein profiles (5, 7) and in the reactivity of a common 31,000-molecular-weight protein with a monoclonal antibody (H5332 [7]), there also were indications of signifi