Morphological Differences in Flagella in Campylobacter fetus Subsp. intestinalis and C. fetus Subsp. jejuni

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Abstract
Intact flagella were isolated from human pathogenic strains of C. fetus ssp. intestinalis and C. fetus ssp. jejuni by the method of DePamphilis and Adler and examined by EM. The isolated flagella were composed of a filament, a hook, a basal body and a large disk associated with the end of the hook region covering the basal body. The width of the hook was .apprx. 28 nm, somewhat greater than that of the filament (20 nm in diameter). The hook region of C. fetus ssp. intestinalis was curved, but it was straight in C. fetus ssp. jejuni. The structure of the basal body of the 2 sspp. was similar to that reported for other gram-negative bacteria. The large disk detached from the flagella showed concentrically arranged circular structures. This structure was more clearly observed in the disk of C. fetus ssp. jejuni than in C. fetus ssp. intestinalis. Observations of thin-sectioned profiles at the attachment site of the flagellum revealed that the large disk is located on the inner side of the outer membrane. The role of the large disk in bacterial movement is not clear, but it may act to protect the flagellar insertion site from vigorous rotation of the polar end inflicted during bacterial movement.

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