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. 1984 Jun;158(3):1033–1036. doi: 10.1128/jb.158.3.1033-1036.1984

Virulence plasmid-associated autoagglutination in Yersinia spp.

M Skurnik, I Bölin, H Heikkinen, S Piha, H Wolf-Watz
PMCID: PMC215546  PMID: 6725209

Abstract

The autoagglutination of Yersinia enterocolitica was dependent on the presence of the virulence plasmid and on the active growth of bacteria in tissue culture media at 37 degrees C. Cultures with a high initial concentration of bacteria failed to autoagglutinate , indicating that synthesis of new virulence plasmid-associated surface factors was essential for autoagglutination. The synthesis of a plasmid-encoded polypeptide (molecular weight, 240,000), designated P1, that could be dissociated under strongly reducing conditions into subunits of 52,500 daltons was found to be correlated with autoagglutination. Further, a strain of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis [ YPIII ( PIB102 )], which has Tn5 inserted within the structural gene of P1 that prevents the synthesis of P1, failed to autoagglutinate , in contrast to the wild-type strain, strongly indicating that P1 is involved in this phenomenon. It was also found by immunoblotting that in addition to the common response to temperature, the P1 proteins of Y. enterocolitica and Y. pseudotuberculosis were immunologically related.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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