Density gradient centrifugation in urografin of Moraxella and Kingella cells and appendages

Purification of fimbriae (pili) by density gradient banding in Urografin medium was attempted. Moraxella nonliquefaciens and Kingella kingae fimbriae were of higher density than their cells of origin, but fimbrial fractions obtained by homogenization and differential centrifugation still banded together with presumed outer membrane fragments and some whole cells in Urografin gradients. The cellular density of genetic variants with different fimbriation/competence levels was also studied. For one strain of M. nonliquefaciens and two strains of K. kingae, cells harvested from agar plates tended to show several bands on isopycnic density gradient centrifugation, with slightly higher general density of fimbriated variants than non-fimbriated. A single density band could be observed with cells from log phase broth cultures of selected strains which showed no distinct difference between fimbriation or competence variants of each strain. Cells of M. nonliquefaciens and M. bovis showed comparable buoyant densities, whereas those of K. kingae had a higher density.