HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by McNamara, B. P. Articles by Donnenberg, M. S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by McNamara, B. P. Articles by Donnenberg, M. S. Agricola Articles by McNamara, B. P. Articles by Donnenberg, M. S.

Evidence for specificity in type 4 pilus biogenesis by enteropathogenic Escherichia coli

Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 10 South Pine Street, Room 900, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA¹

Author for correspondence: Michael S. Donnenberg. Tel: +1 410 706 7560. Fax: +1 410 706 8700. e-mail: mdonnenb{at}umaryland.edu

Type 4 fimbriae (pili) are surface appendages that are expressed by many species of Gram-negative bacteria. Previous studies have demonstrated that Pseudomonas aeruginosa can express and assemble pilin subunits from several unrelated species, indicating a common mechanism for biogenesis of type 4 pili whereby structural subunits from one system may be interchanged with those of another. In this study, an isogenic mutant of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) was constructed containing the entire tcpA gene from Vibrio cholerae O395, which encodes the major structural subunit of the toxin-coregulated pilus (TCP), in place of bfpA, which encodes the major structural subunit of the bundle-forming pilus (BFP). Surprisingly, expression of type 4 pilin structures and the associated phenotype of bacterial autoaggregation in culture media were not observed for cells of the EPEC strain containing tcpA nor for those containing an additional mutation in bfpF, which otherwise is associated with a hyperfimbriate phenotype. In addition, cells of a bfpA mutant EPEC strain containing plasmids designed to express either of two different chimeric type 4 pilin subunits containing segments of BfpA and TcpA also failed to form bacterial aggregates and express type 4 pilin structures. Collectively, these results indicate that the type 4 pilin assembly system of EPEC exhibits specificity with regard to pilin subunit recognition and assembly.

Keywords: fimbriae, bundle-forming pilus (BFP), enteropathogenic E. coli, toxin-coregulated pilus (TCP), type 4 pili

Abbreviations: BFP, bundle-forming pili; EAF, EPEC adherence factor; EPEC, enteropathogenic Escherichia coli; TCP, toxin-coregulated pili

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P. J. Fernandes, Q. Guo, and M. S. Donnenberg Functional Consequences of Sequence Variation in Bundlin, the Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli Type IV Pilin Protein Infect. Immun., October 1, 2007; 75(10): 4687 - 4696. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Ramboarina, P. J. Fernandes, S. Daniell, S. Islam, P. Simpson, G. Frankel, F. Booy, M. S. Donnenberg, and S. Matthews Structure of the Bundle-forming Pilus from Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli J. Biol. Chem., December 2, 2005; 280(48): 40252 - 40260. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				W. Schreiber, K. D. Stone, M. A. Strong, L. J. DeTolla Jr, M. Hoppert, and M. S. Donnenberg BfpU, a soluble protein essential for type IV pilus biogenesis in enteropathogenic Escherichia coli Microbiology, August 1, 2002; 148(8): 2507 - 2518. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. E. Blank, H. Zhong, A. L. Bell, T. S. Whittam, and M. S. Donnenberg Molecular Variation among Type IV Pilin (bfpA) Genes from Diverse Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli Strains Infect. Immun., December 1, 2000; 68(12): 7028 - 7038. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]