Polarity in the exponential-phase Rhizobium japonicum cell

Highly distinctive aspects of the exponentail-phase Rhizobium japonicum cell were disclosed by means of thin sections, freeze etching, fluorescent antibodies, and ruthenium red staining. Polarity was expressed in the form of reserve polymer distribution near one end of the cell and as cytoplasmic localization near the opposite end. In addition, exocellular polysaccharide (EPS) accumulated preferentially around the cytoplasmic end, and the feature described previously as an "immunofluorescent polar tip" was seen clearly as an extracellular polar body (EPB) on the tip of the cell at the reserve polymer end. Compartmentalization of cytoplasm and reserves were consistent features of nearly all exponential cells of the two strains studied; strain 31, however, formed little EPS and had a high incidence of a large, tightly bound EPB, while strain 138 formed EPS extensively and had a low incidence of EPB. Extracellular polysaccharides of strain 138 reacted with soybean lectin in gel diffusion tests, so that the EPS seen in electron micrographs is tentatively considered to include the lectin-binding material. Extracellular polar bodies were accumulations of granular and fibrillar material with properties consistent with the presence of polysaccharide and lipopolysaccharide. The role of EPB in cell to cell attachment was confirmed by electron microscopy.