STUDIES ON GONOCOCCUS INFECTION: I. PILI AND ZONES OF ADHESION: THEIR RELATION TO GONOCOCCAL GROWTH PATTERNS

doi:10.1084/jem.134.4.886

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ARTICLE

STUDIES ON GONOCOCCUS INFECTION : I. PILI AND ZONES OF ADHESION: THEIR RELATION TO GONOCOCCAL GROWTH PATTERNS

John Swanson M.D.¹, Stephen J. Kraus M.D.¹, and Emil C. Gotschlich M.D.¹

¹ From the Department of Microbiology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine of The City University of New York, New York 10029, and The Rockefeller University, New York 10021

The four colony types of several different strains of gonococciwere isolated by selective transfers on agar. These colony variantsdiffered in the degree of autoagglutination which occurred whenthey were grown in fluid medium. It was found that this clumpingbehavior was related to the colonial type, with type 2 isolatesexhibiting the greatest autoagglutination followed by types3, 1, and 4.

Electron microscopic examination of thin sectionsindicated that the clumping in fluid medium was mediated bypeculiar zones of adherence of the outer membranes of gonococci.These resembled the gap junctions seen in animal cell systemsbut differed in that the gonococcal membranes involved in thezone of adherence did not bear typical surface modifications.

Electronmicroscopic study of negatively stained specimens of gonococcirevealed that pili with a diameter of approximately 85 A anda length up to 4 µ were present on the surfaces of alltype 1 and type 2 gonococci examined, and were not seen on anytype 3 or 4 gonococci. The consistent presence of pili on type1 and type 2 gonococci which are virulent colony forms and thelack of pili on avirulent colony types 3 and 4 suggests a relationshipbetween the gonococcal pili and pathogenetic potential of theorganisms.

Submitted on June 14, 1971

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