Electron Microscopy of Salmonella Flagella in Methylcellulose Solution

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
When peritrichously flagellated cells such as normal, curly, paralyzed-curly and small-amplitude strains of Salmonella abortusequi are suspended in 0.5% methylcellulose solution, flagellar bundles can be seen by electron microscopy. In a bundle, 5 or more of the component flagella are tightly united in parallel with each other, and the bundle formed into a helix with a shape characteristic for each strain. These figures reveal the structural detail of the flagellar bundle observed under a dark-field microscope. Ten min. after the cells were suspended in methylcelhilose solution, bundled flagella were seen in approximately 70% of the cells of normal, curly and paralyzed-curly strains; the remaining 30% were dispersed. At this time among the normal cells, some were single-bundled and others were multibundled. The fraction of the single-bundled cells was larger in both motile and paralyzed curly-flagellated than in normal cells. The fraction of normal cells having single bundles increased with time. Methylcellulose probably enhances aggregation of flagella and/or inhibits the dispersion of the aggregated flagella. In the small-amplitude strain, transformation of flagellar shape to curly was observed. In methylcelhilose solution, this transformation occurs in bundled but not dispersed flagella. The tight association of the component flagella in methylcelhilose solution probably enhances the stress among the flagella, causing the transformation.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: