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Extracellular Crystalline Lattice Material of Corynebacterium diphtheriae Revealed by Electron Microscopy
Author(s) -
Kawata Tomio,
Masuda Kuniyoshi
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
japanese journal of microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0021-5139
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1972.tb00691.x
Subject(s) - corynebacterium diphtheriae , negative stain , electron microscope , crystallography , lattice (music) , diphtheria toxin , crystal structure , chemistry , materials science , scanning electron microscope , biophysics , optics , toxin , diphtheria , physics , biology , biochemistry , vaccination , composite material , acoustics , immunology
Crystalline material showing square lattice arrays attached to the cell envelope of Corynebacterium diphtheriae grown in liquid cultures was demonstrated under the electron microscope using negative staining and sectioning techniques. Two types of lattice patterns could be found in the crystal. One was a square lattice consisting of parallel lines (about 3.2 nm in diameter) with an average distance between their centers of 5.3 nm. The second type of lattice pattern was composed of thinner parallel lines (approximately 2.2 nm in diameter) with a closer periodicity being about 3.5 nm. The two types of lattice patterns appeared to intersect each other at an angle of 45 degrees. The lattice arrays were disorganized and disappeared upon treatment with proteolytic enzymes, alkali and sodium dodecyl sulfate. This crystalline material seemed to be composed of protein(s) but not to be related to diphtheria toxin.