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. 1922 Jul 20;4(6):669–680. doi: 10.1085/jgp.4.6.669

THE FLOCCULATION OF BACTERIA BY PROTEINS

Arnold H Eggerth 1, Margaret Bellows 1
PMCID: PMC2140537  PMID: 19871966

Abstract

1. The effect of adding pure proteins to bacterial suspensions at different H ion concentrations has been studied. 2. The zone of flocculation of protein-treated bacteria bears a significant relationship to the isoelectric point of the protein used. With the higher concentration of protein, agglutination occurs at or near the isoelectric point of that protein; at reactions acid to this, the bacteria carry a positive charge and are not agglutinated. With diminishing concentration of protein, the zone of flocculation shifts toward and goes beyond that characteristic of the untreated bacteria. This occurs both in the presence and absence of salts. 3. A diversity of other suspensions, such as sols of gold, mastic, cellulose nitrate, cellulose acetate, Fe(OH)3, oil emulsions, and erythrocytes, have been found by ourselves and others to exhibit a similar altered stability when treated with proteins in the same way.

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Selected References

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  1. Dudley H. W., Evans C. L. A Method for the Preparation and Recrystallisation of Oxyhaemoglobin. Biochem J. 1921;15(4):487–488. doi: 10.1042/bj0150487. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
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