Summary. Electron microscopic studies of pili were carried out on Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Flagella and pili were observed by negative staining and metal shadowing. Ultrathin sections of cells contained filaments that resembled pili. The isolation of pili was followed in the eleetron microscope by negative staining. The properties of isolated Pseudomonas pili were different fram those of type I Escherichia coli pili. A sur\-ey of twenty-two isolate.s of P. aeruginosa involved in clinical infections demonstrated the existence of pili on a high proportion (17/22) of the cultures. No correlation was found to exist between the possession of pili and antibiotic sensitivity. These pili are thought to be of signifieaneo in clinical infections of this organism.INTRODUCTION. Pih (fimbriae) are long thin appendage.s of the bacterial cell that have been seen in many species of bacteria (Wi.streich and Baker, 1971). Negative .staining provides a simple reliable method for oKserving these structures with tlie electron microscope. This method has been used to demonstrate that several speeies of P.seudomonas possess pili (Fuerst and Hayward. 1969). The distribution of these pili as polar or peritrichous depends on the individual species. Among cells with polar pili the distribntion may be monopolar or bipolar. Early studies demonstrated that cell-to-eell eontaet involves pili, sinee cells with monopolar pili formed a stable star-shaped cluster (Heumann and Marx, 1964). More recently we have found that pili of Pseudomonas aeruginosa are associated with the fonnation of a eell network (Weiss, 1971).It is possible that such filaments are involved in establishing cliiiieal infections of Pseudomonas. With this possibility in mind we have examined twentytwo elinical isolates of P. aeruginosa witli the electron microsa)pc for the presence of pili. We have tested the susceptibility of the isolates to various antibiotics in order to establish if any relationship exists between the possession of pili and antibiotic sensitivity. Tlie strnetnre of pili and the experimental conditions for their removal and isolation were also stndied.
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