Purification and characterization of distinct type of mannose-sensitive fimbriae from Salmonella typhimurium.

The fimbriae (E4) of a virulent strain of Salmonella typhimurium were purified by ion exchange chromatography in an FPLC system. They had a channelled appearance under transmission electron microscope and showed a major structural subunit of 17-kDa on sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The purified fimbriae were found to agglutinate guinea pig erythrocytes, but this effect was inhibited in presence of D-mannose. Immune sera raised against the Mono-Q purified fimbriae (E4) showed cross-reactivity with the type-1 fimbriae (F1) composed of 21-kDa fimbrin subunit, purified by a different method from the same strain.