| Research Abstract |
In order to introduce techniques of bacterial cell fusion to elucidate various subjects in medical microbiology, the following methods should be established: i) the methods to induce L-forms or protoplasts efficiently form various bacteria in vitro, ii) the methods to increase the frequency of cell fusion between different L-forms, protoplasts or both of them to get fusion products (fusants), and iii) the methods to convert protoplasts and L-forms to culturable L-forms and intact bacterial forms, respectively, to compare various properties of fusants with those of parent bacteria under the same conditions.
In the first step, we started a project to get fusants between oral streptococci and Staphylococcus aureus, to prepare their cell surface components and to compare their bioactivities with those of the corresponding parent bacterial components. Toda was charged to get fusants between oral streptococci and S. aureus. He tried to get L-forms of various strains of oral streptococci, and
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succeeded in induction of L-forms from all strains of Streptococcus faecalis so far examined. He also succeeded in getting a fusant between a L-form of S. faecalis, TH-6(SM), and S. aureus L-form, MS353 (cPc), by polyethylen glycol treatment. However, cell fusion between unstable L-forms, which are easily converted to intact bacterial forms thus more suitable for the project, of S. faecalis and the S. aureus L-forms was failed. On the other hand, Takada and Tsujimot were charged to establish preparation methods of bacterial cell survaces and assay methods of bioactivities of them. For the purpose, several components were prepared from various bacteria, and bioactivities of them and related synthetic compounds were exaustively examined in various in vivo and in vitro assay systems with special reference to structure-activity relationships.
Therefore, situations have become to be able to pursue the project, and in fact sutdies to prepare cell surface components from above funsants are in progress. Less
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