Inhibitor to the cell-bound haemagglutinin of Vibrio cholerae.

An inhibitor to cell-bound HA was found to be produced at the non-haemagglutinating phase of the culture cycle by a classical vibrio strain which produced a cell-bound HA early and transiently during its growth. The HA-negative filtrate obtained from the late log-culture was found to inhibit the cell-bound HA activity produced by the same vibrio strain. It was also found to be produced early in shaking cultures at 37 degrees C and to mask the activity of early cell-bound HA in whole culture tests. This inhibitor is suggested to be responsible for the failure to obtain HA activity or adhesive vibrio cells grown at 37 degrees C and for the transient expression of cell-bound HA by some V. cholerae strains.

Characterization and distribution of the cell-bound haemagglutinins produced by Vibrio cholerae.

The two biotypes of Vibrio cholerae were found to produce two distinct cell-bound haemagglutinins (HAs). El Tor vibrios, most of their nonmotile mutants and nonpathogenic El Tor strains produced a mannose-sensitive cell-bound HA constitutively under all growth conditions examined. Some classical vibrios, their nonmotile mutants and antigenically rough mutants of classical strains produced a fucose-sensitive cell-bound HA continually. Other classical vibrios produced neither cell-bound HA nor a fucose-sensitive cell-bound HA transiently.