J Med Microbiol Track the topics, authors and articles important to you
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Krishna, M. M.
Right arrow Articles by Borriello, S. P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Krishna, M. M.
Right arrow Articles by Borriello, S. P.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Krishna, M. M.
Right arrow Articles by Borriello, S. P.

The Journal of Medical Microbiology, Vol 44, Issue 2 115-123, Copyright © 1996 by Society for General Microbiology

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Cell surface properties of Clostridium difficile: haemagglutination, relative hydrophobicity and charge

M. M. Krishna, N. B. Powell and S. P. Borriello
Microbial Pathogenicity Research Group, Institute of Infections and Immunity, Nottingham.

Five well characterised strains of Clostridium difficile of differing virulence and two Escherichia coli strains, a verotoxigenic O157:H7 isolate and a urinary isolate, were examined for cell surface hydrophobicity and charge, and haemagglutinating ability. Phase partition in hexadecane or octan-1-ol was similar for C. difficile and E. coli, as was retention by hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC), indicating moderate hydrophobicity. The salt agglutination test showed E. coli to be hydrophobic and C. difficile to be hydrophilic. Relative hydrophobicity determined by HIC when charge effects were not nullified, i.e., to reflect more closely conditions in vivo, showed C. difficile to bind less well. Growth of C. difficile in caecal emulsions to simulate conditions in vivo did not alter the cell surface hydrophobicity. The phase partition method for charge determination indicated that E. coli and C. difficile had a net negative charge, although this was weaker for C difficile than E. coli. However, although E. coli exhibited a net negative charge as determined by immuno-gold electronmicroscopy (IGEM), in keeping with the results of the phase partition method, C. difficile was shown to be predominantly positively charged by IGEM, and by movement in a charged field as determined by paper electrophoresis and a novel method based on light microscope observation. A cell-wall deficient mutant of C. difficile was weakly positively charged, showing that most of the charge resides in the cell wall.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Appl. Environ. Microbiol.Home page
A.-J. Waligora, M.-C. Barc, P. Bourlioux, A. Collignon, and T. Karjalainen
Clostridium difficile Cell Attachment Is Modified by Environmental Factors
Appl. Envir. Microbiol., September 1, 1999; 65(9): 4234 - 4238.
[Abstract] [Full Text]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
INT J SYST EVOL MICROBIOL J MED MICROBIOL MICROBIOLOGY J GEN VIROL ALL SGM JOURNALS
Copyright © 1996 Society for General Microbiology.