Reconstruction of Common Pili of Shigella flexneri

I. Electron-microscopic Observation on Reconstructed Pili

Abstract

The purified common pili of Shigella flexneri were disintegrated into their subunit, pilin, by heat treatment under acidic conditions. From the pilin solution thus obtained, the common pili were reconstructed by adding such salts as NaCl, KCl, and MgCl₂. It was demonstrated, however, by electron microscopy that there were more or less structural differences in the three-dimensional appearance of the reconstructed pili among the salts used, of which KCl revealed the most satisfactory effect.