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Growth of the Surface of Corynebacterium diphtheriae
Author(s) -
Umeda Akiko,
Amako Kazunobu
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0385-5600
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1983.tb00629.x
Subject(s) - corynebacterium diphtheriae , biology , apical cell , cell wall , immunofluorescence , cell , electron microscope , bacterial cell structure , scanning electron microscope , microbiology and biotechnology , biophysics , bacteria , antibody , biochemistry , diphtheria , materials science , optics , virology , physics , vaccination , genetics , immunology , composite material
Surface structure and growth of the surface of Corynebacterium diphtheriae mitis strain were investigated by scanning electron microscopy and the immunofluorescence technique. The surface of the cell revealed by the scanning electron microscope showed a few elevated circular zones which encompassed the cell. The cell diameter increased at this zone and this gave the club‐shaped appearance to this species. The cell surface labeled with specific antibodies against the whole bacterial cell and tagged with ferritin remained at a constant length during cell division cycles and the new cell surface emerged from the polar ends of the cell. This new wall surface was completely devoid of the ferritin particles indicating that the cell wall component on the old preexistent wall was completely conserved. A similar finding was obtained by immunofluorescence microscopy. C. diphtheriae , unlike Bacillus spp., showed apical growth as has been observed in fungal cells.