Mechanical removal of F pili, type I pili, and flagella from Hfr and RTF donor cells and the kinetics of their reappearance.

The effect of mechanical agitation (blending) on the removal of F pili, type I pili, and flagella from Hfr (high-frequency recombinant) and resistance transfer factor (RTF) fi(+)Escherichia coli cells was studied by electron microscopy. The reduction in number and length of appendages was measured as a function of blendor speed under standard conditions of temperature, medium, cell density, and blendor configuration. F pili and flagella were removed within the same narrow range of blendor speeds. Type I pili were removed within a higher and broader range of speeds. The speed which reduced the average length of type I pili to 50% was 3.5 times the speed which reduced the average length of F pili to 50%. None of the speeds employed inhibited cell growth, viability, or the ability to produce cell appendages. The kinetics of reappearance of F pili and type I pili after removal by blending were also different. F pili grew out very rapidly, reaching 50% of their full length in 30 sec and their full length in 4 to 5 min. The number of attached F pili per cell also increased rapidly, reaching a constant value in 4 to 5 min. After 5 min, F pilus lengths were distributed around a modal value of about 1.2 mum, and the numbers of F pili per cell were distributed according to a Poisson distribution, with an average of 1.0 per cell. These reappearance kinetics, length distributions, and number distributions are consistent with a model of F-pilus outgrowth in which new F pili appear at random locations on the cell surface at an average rate of about once every 4 min, grow to their characteristic length in about 4 min, and then separate from the cell. F pili which had separated could absorb to the cells, leading to the presence of two classes of F pili on cells: those in the process of natural out-growth and those attached by absorption. Type I pili increased in length much more slowly than did F pili, although the fraction of cells having visible type I pili increased very rapidly after blending because of the large number of type I pili per cell. The fraction of flagellated cells increased even more slowly, reaching only 30% of the unblended fraction in 30 min. The application of blending spectra and reappearance kinetics to the identification of cell functions with surface structures is discussed.