Abstract
Summary
Strains representative of potentially pathogenic and nonpathogenic staphylococci were studied with respect to the extra-cellular proteins that accumulate in cultures. Starch gel electrophoresis of the non-dialyzable substances isolated from culture supernates revealed that 12 to 14 species of proteins are elaborated by potentially pathogenic strains while about half as many were found to be associated with nonpathogenic staphylococci. Additional findings permitted the loci of hemolytic and several enzymatic activities to be mapped and compared with those of protein. Most of the proteins do not appear to be identifiable with previously described products of staphylococcal growth, and therefore, represent new extracellular substances. Several of these occur consistently and perhaps exclusively in association with potentially pathogenic strains.
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