Relationship between hemagglutinin and sialidase from Clostridium perfringens CN3870: gel filtration of mutant and revertant activities

Gel filtration of supernatant fluids, from the wild type C. perfringens, strain CN3870, and several of the mutants and revertants derived from this strain, showed that these mutants failed to produce detectable amounts of the I and II forms of both hemagglutinin and sialidase activities. However, they still produced sialidase III activity. The revertants tested had regained the ability to produce approximately wild type levels of the I and II forms of both activities. These results show that there is a direct relationship between the production of the I form of hemagglutinin and sialidase activities and the production of the II form of these biologically active proteins. Models that explain the genetic basis for these results are discussed.