The ability of motile strains of the Ogawa and Inaba serotypes of classical Vibrio cholerae and of the El Tor biotypes to kill suckling mice after oral challenge with 108 colony-forming units (representing at least 100 to 1,000 minimal lethal doses) was compared to that of nonmotile derivatives of the same strains. Loss of motility, in each case, resulted in a marked reduction in virulence. The mortality (at 36 h) caused by 10 of the 13 nonmotile strains was 32% or less, whereas the motile wild-type strains resulted in nearly 100% deaths. The reduced virulence of the nonmotile strains was associated with reduced capacity to adsorb to the surface of segments of mouse intestine. The mutants were tested for alterations in enterotoxin production and surface properties. The results suggest that motility may contribute to virulence by increasing the chance for association of the vibrios with the intestinal mucosa.

No abstract

Mice immunized with purified whole-cell ribonucleic acid (RNA), RNA from the bacterial “particulate” fraction, and ribosome-associated RNA obtained from Salmonella typhimurium were found to be resistant to subsequent challenge infection with virulent salmonellae. Chemically, the immunogenic nucleic acid fractions contained from 1 to 3% “contaminant” material defined (based on the mean of 19 different preparations) as protein (0.24%), deoxyribonucleic acid (0.43%), methyl pentose (0.64%), hexose (1.58%), and undefined carbohydrate (0.76%). Heptoses and lipoidal material were not detectable in any of the immunogenic preparations examined. Physically, the nucleic acid preparations, after analytical ultracentrifugation, exhibited three boundaries similar to those reported elsewhere in comparable systems: 4 to 5 S , 16 S , and 23 S . An evaluation of the immunity induced by the ribosome-associated RNA established that the immune response was (i) comparable to that induced 15 days postimmunization with live salmonellae and by ribosomal vaccines, but greater at 30 days postimmunization than that in mice immunized with attenuated salmonellae; (ii) dependent on the quantity of immunogen administered; (iii) dependent on the size of the infective inocula; (iv) inhibited at 15 but not at 30 days postimmunization when the immunogenic nucleic acid preparations were incorporated into Freund's incomplete adjuvant, (v) reduced or lost by dialysis in relatively high or low immunizing doses, respectively; and (vi) unaffected by enzymatic treatment of the preparations with trypsin, deoxyribonuclease, Pronase plus pancreatic ribonuclease, or pancreatic ribonuclease alone. The possible mode of action of ribosome-associated RNA in inducing an immune response to subsequent challenge infection with the homologous organism is discussed.

Systemic and gastrointestinal infection can be established in infant mice after intragastric challenge with Candida albicans. Differences in virulence of the six strains tested were noted. As early as 3 h after infection, some but not all livers, spleens, and kidneys contained C. albicans, but the peak number of colonyforming units in these organs was seen at 6 h. The early colonization of the organs could not be attributed to aspiration of the inoculum since about 90% of lungs and livers tested yielded no colony-forming units at 10 to 15 min postinfection. In animals with systemic infections, lungs, livers, kidneys, and spleens showed similar numbers of colony-forming units within the organs during the first 6 h postinfection, and then the number declined progressively up to 72 h. The gastrointestinal tract was colonized throughout a 20-day period of study. Counts made at intervals beyond day 1 yielded between 105 and 106 colony-forming units in the stomach, ileum, and cecum. Preparatory techniques for scanning electron microscopy preserved the yeast, intestinal mucus layer, and epithelial surface and made it possible to visualize the association between the pathogen and host tissues within the digestive tract. Generalized systemic infections produced by Candida albicans have increased in importance