title: Partial characterisation of a soluble haemagglutinin from human diarrhoeal isolates of Aeromonas.
abstract: A soluble haemagglutinin has been identified in cell-free culture supernates of human diarrhoeal isolates of Aeromonas sobria, A. hydrophila and A. caviae. It was oligomeric; a major peak of haemagglutinating activity had an apparent mol. wt of 780,000 but there was haemagglutinating activity throughout the mol. wt range less than 40,000- greater than 10(6). Human group O, A and B, horse, rabbit, chicken and rat erythrocytes, but not those of sheep and cow, were agglutinated by the soluble haemagglutinin, in contrast to the cell-bound agglutinin. Agglutination was inhibited by fetuin, a complex glycoprotein, but not by simple sugars. The haemagglutinating activity was not affected by 0.5 M NaCl, dithiothreitol or the presence or absence of Ca++. It was unrelated to the haemolytic, enterotoxigenic and proteolytic activities present in cell-free extracts of A. sobria. All A. sobria, 73% of A. hydrophila and 68% of A. caviae strains tested produced this soluble haemagglutinin. A. caviae does not appear to be an enteric pathogen, therefore this soluble haemagglutinin alone is unlikely to be a virulence factor in Aeromonas spp.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000333:Aeromonas / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D002417:Cattle; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002627:Chemistry, Physical; D002645:Chickens; D002648:Child; D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000382:microbiology*; D006386:Hemagglutination Tests; D006388:Hemagglutinins / Q000032:analysis*; D006461:Hemolysis; D006736:Horses; D006801:Humans; D011817:Rabbits; D051381:Rats; D012756:Sheep; D012995:Solubility; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D006388:Hemagglutinins