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Electron Microscopy of a Strain of Bordetella bronchiseptica

^a Department of Pathology, Cornell University Medical College, New York, New York 10021

ABSTRACT

A strain of Bordetella bronchiseptica that had been isolated from a rat hepatoma cell culture was investigated by means of electron microscopy. Bacteria were examined after (i) negative staining with phosphotungstate or uranyl acetate, (ii) metal shadowing with platinum-palladium, and (iii) fixation with glutaraldehyde followed by embedding, sectioning, and staining. The multilayered bacterial cell walls appeared lobulated in negatively stained and in metal-shadowed specimens; the lobules were demarcated by grooves, 100 to 200 A in width, but without interruption of continuity in any layer of the cell wall. Cross sections of fixed material revealed wrinkled cell walls in many—but not all—preparations. Bacterial cell membranes and cytoplasm were similar to those of other gram-negative bacilli (e.g., Escherichia coli). Bacteria fixed in 1.5% glutaraldehyde contained intertwined or whorled fibrils, down to about 20 A in thickness. The flagella were peritrichous, measured about 200 A in width, and were composed of braided strands, about 20 A in width.

¹ Present address: Department of Pathology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, N.Y. 14620.