Abstract
The surface properties of three Escherichia coli strains (AL52, 382 and HB101) were investigated: the surface chemical composition by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), the surface electrical properties by microelectrophoresis and the surface hydrophobicity by partitioning between two aqueous phases. The surface structures were also analyzed: fimbriae by the hemagglutination test and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) profiles by electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gel. The surface chemical composition depended on the composition of the culture medium and on the mode of culture, in liquid nutritive medium or on nutritive agar. Variations between the surface chemical composition of the three strains were also observed. It seemed that the chemical composition could be related to the surface structures. The LPS profile of AL52 was the only one that indicated the presence of long polysaccharide chains; this was consistent with XPS analysis which showed that the surface of this strain was richer in hydroxide functions than the two other strains. There were more type 1 fimbriae (proteinic appendages) on the 382 than on the HB101 strain, and the surface nitrogen concentration detected by XPS was indeed higher for 382 in comparison with the HB101 strain. The chemical composition could be related to the electrophoretic mobility which increased as the phosphate surface concentration increased. However, there was no coherent relation between any parameter of the surface chemical composition and the surface hydrophobicity.
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