Biological properties of the encapsulated Staphylococcus aureus M

Strain M, classified as a Staphylococcus aureus, behaves like the other rare encapsulated staphylococcal strains. It was clumping-factor negative, grew in diffuse-type colonies in serum-soft agar, and produced rapidly fatal disease in mice. Strain M was highly resistant to phagocytosis by human or mouse leukocytes and required both specific antibody and heat-labile serum factor(s) for efficient ingestion by human polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Electron micrographs confirmed the presence of a large capsule. Agglutination studies, active or passive mouse protection experiments, and opsonic studies revealed that strain M represents a new, immunologically distinct strain of encapsulated staphylococcus. Strain M differs from other known encapsulated staphylococci in several other respects: its cellular and colonial morphology is atypical; its LD(50) in the mouse peritoneal model is 100 times less than that of other mouse lethal strains; it is poorly opsonized by normal human serum; and, finally, it possesses an unusually large capsule as seen in electron micrographs.