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Caulubacter is distinctive in the morphology and replication and ubiquitous in the biosphere, especially in every type of aquatic environment. In water and waste-water treatment processes, chlorine and chlorine compounds have been used as a main disinfectant throughout the world. Therefore, Caulobacter in the waters should be affected by chlorination of the waters. The objective of this study is to determine the effects of the disinfectants on Caulobacter cells and on the developmental processes of the cells. The Caulobacter swarmer cells were disinfected by chlorine at pH 7.0 minutes of the reaction with 2.0 mg/l of infected at pH 10.0. The swarmer cells treated with 2.0 or 4.0 mg/l of chlorine for 15 minutes lost their flagella and were observed by electron microscopy to be damaged on their cell surfaces, discharging some cellular materials. When the chlorinated swarmers and untreated control samples were recultivated in fresh PYE broth medium, the control swarmers multiplicated exponentially after one-hour lag phase, whereas the chlorinated swarmers extended the lag phase to about four hours. During the extended lag phase, the cells were proved by electron microscopy to be grown and be in predivisional step, but no swarmer cell was found. When the stalked cells were chlorinated, almost all the cells were observed to have their stalks broken and some cellular materials discharged. In those samples recultivated, many cells differentiated to possess an abnormally elongated stalk with several crossbands on it. This suggests that the chlorine-shocked Caulobacter cells can develope to abnormal morphology in water environments which they can survive and regrow in.
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