Open AccessA COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE TYPE-3 FIMBRIAE OF KLEBSIELLA SPECIES
Author(s) -
D. C. Old,
Anne Tavendale,
B. W. Senior
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
journal of medical microbiology/journal of medical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.91
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1473-5644
pISSN - 0022-2615
DOI - 10.1099/00222615-20-2-203
Subject(s) - fimbria , microbiology and biotechnology , klebsiella , biology , type (biology) , enterobacteriaceae , escherichia coli , ecology , genetics , gene
Type-3 fimbriae isolated from members of five different species of Klebsiella were 4-5 nm in diameter and agglutinated the tannic acid-treated erythrocytes of ox and, in some cases, the untanned erythrocytes of fowl. In sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, the type-3 fimbrial proteins had mol. wts in the range 19 500-21 500. Hydrophobic amino acids comprised 39.6% of all the amino acids of the type-3 fimbrial protein of K. oxytoca strain 70/1. The type-1 fimbrial protein of Klebsiella had a mol. wt of c. 18 000 and the type-1 fimbriae were serologically distinct from the type-3 fimbriae. Our results for the type-3 fimbriae of Klebsiella were compared with those of others for morphologically similar and serologically related thin fimbriae of Salmonella and Yersinia.