Characterisation of the external surfaces of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from human blood and respiratory tract.
The surface structures of the cell envelopes of 16 clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were examined by electronmicroscopy with the new fixation technique of freeze-substitution. Two types of structures were observed among the organisms. In one group of strains, mostly isolated from blood, a dense fibrous layer c. 30 nm thick was found around the outer-membrane surface, whereas no such structure was observed in the other group of isolates, most of which were from sputum. Lipopolysaccharides extracted from the isolates with a dense fibrous layer were found by SDS-PAGE to have long O-polysaccharide chains, whereas strains without such a layer mostly had lipopolysaccharides that lacked high mol. wt. O-polysaccharide chains.
Misumi
H
H
First Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
Umeda
A
A
Eguchi
K
K
Okada
K
K
Sawae
Y
Y
Niho
Y
Y
Amako
K
K
D016470:Bacteremia / Q000382:microbiology*; D001770:Blood Bactericidal Activity; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D005615:Freezing; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D016253:Microscopy, Immunoelectron; D011552:Pseudomonas Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology
D008070:Lipopolysaccharides