[Ultrastructural characteristics of the natural heteromorphic growth of Clostridium septicum].
Periodic cultures of C. septicum strain No. 59, growing in Pope's broth, have been studied by means of transmission electron microscopy on ultrathin sections. During the lagphase of growth the inoculated bacilliary cells are sequentially converted into giant filamentous multinucleate forms. These changes, reflecting the reaction of phenotypical adaptation to new environmental conditions, are followed by the restoration of the initial phenotype via the fragmentation of the giant cells. At the same time heteromorphic growth becomes, also spontaneously, atypical in some of the multinucleate cells. This atypical heteromorphic growth results in pronounced degenerative changes leading to bacteriolysis and the death of microbial cells due to disturbances in the coordination of the formation of structural and functional complexes in these cells at the period of their phenotypical adaptation. Such pathology of microbial cells leads to elimination of individual cells with developmental defects, which is finally conducive to the sanitation of the population.
D003013:Clostridium / Q000254:growth & development / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D010641:Phenotype; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic
Ul'trastrukturnaia kharakteristika estestvennogo geteromorfnogo rosta Clostridium septicum.