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Title: Alterations in adhesion, transport, and membrane characteristics in an adhesion-deficient pseudomonad

Journal Article · · Applied and Environmental Microbiology
OSTI ID:330549
; ;  [1]; ;  [2]
  1. Envirogen, Inc., Lawrenceville, NJ (United States). Princeton Research Center
  2. Univ. of Maryland Biotechnology Inst., Baltimore, MD (United States). Center of Marine Biotechnology

A stable adhesion-deficient mutant of Burkholderia cepacia G4, a soil pseudomonad, was selected in a sand column assay. This mutant (ENV435) was compared to the wild-type strain by examining the adhesion of the organisms to silica sand and their transport through two aquifer sediments that differed in their sand, silt, and clay contents. The authors compared the longitudinal transport of the wild type and the adhesion mutant to the transport of a conservative chloride tracer in 25-cm-long glass columns. The transport of the wild-type strain was severely retarded compared to the transport of the conservative tracer in a variety of aquifer sediments, while the adhesion mutant and the conservative tracer traveled at similar rates. An intact sediment core study produced similar results; ENV435 was transported at a faster rate and in much greater numbers than G4. The results of hydrophobic interaction chromatography revealed that G4 was significantly more hydrophobic than ENV435, and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed significant differences in the lipopolysaccharide O-antigens of the adhesion mutant and the wild type. Differences in this cell surface polymer may explain the decreased adhesion of strain ENV435.

Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation, Washington, DC (United States); USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
OSTI ID:
330549
Journal Information:
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 65, Issue 2; Other Information: PBD: Feb 1999
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English