Purification and electrophoretic charaterization of klebsiella pneumoniae and escherichia coli pili associated with calves

Abstract EN

The pili were purified from a Klebsiella pneumoniae and Esherichia coli strains isolated from lungs and gastrointestiral tract of calves respectively.

The pili were removed from the bacteria by mechanical shearing, precipitated out of solution by ammonium sulfate, solubilized in a deoxycholate.

Containg buffer and finally purified by gel filtration.

Electrophoretic characterization of the isolated pili revealed a single protein sub unit (pilin) which had a Molecular weight (Mr) 14.4 Kd.

The results of this study, when compared to other studies of bacterial pili, indicate that pili from members of the Enterobacteriaceae share morphological similarities and that their monomeric sub units are chemically similar.

In addition, these results give strong evidence that pili of the enteric bacteria represent a separate class of homolgous pili.