Surface hydrophobicity of plasmid-carrying virulent Shigella flexneri and their avirulent variants.

Five pairs of strains of S. flexneri each differing in the colour of their colonies after growth on Congo red agar have been tested for their ability to cause keratoconjunctivitis in the guinea pig eye, for the presence of the 140 Md virulence plasmid, for the presence of the virulence marker antigen, and for their ability to adsorb to hydrophobic surfaces (cellulose nitrate filters and Phenyl Sepharose). The results suggest that the presence of the 140 Md virulence plasmid provides the bacterial surface with a rather high degree of hydrophobicity; exceptions have been found.