Abstract: | The homogeneity of colonies of two B. anthracis vaccine strains in R- and RS- forms (100 colonies of each strain) in terms of their adhesive capacity was studied. B. anthracis strain 228/8 showed more heterogeneous composition than B. anthracis strain 71/12, moderately and highly adhesive colonies prevailing in both forms and nonadhesive colonies being absent. The prevalence of highly adhesive clones was established in the RS- form of B. anthracis strain 72/12 in comparison with R- form. By the average value of the adhesion index the RS- form colonies of this strain were classified as highly adhesive, while the colonies in the R- form were characterized as moderately adhesive. |