Microbiology
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Tielker, D.
Right arrow Articles by Jaeger, K.-E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Tielker, D.
Right arrow Articles by Jaeger, K.-E.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Tielker, D.
Right arrow Articles by Jaeger, K.-E.
Microbiology 151 (2005), 1313-1323; DOI  10.1099/mic.0.27701-0
© 2005 Society for General Microbiology

Pseudomonas aeruginosa lectin LecB is located in the outer membrane and is involved in biofilm formation

Denis Tielker1, Stephanie Hacker2, Remy Loris3, Martin Strathmann4, Jost Wingender4, Susanne Wilhelm1, Frank Rosenau1 and Karl-Erich Jaeger1

1 Institut für Molekulare Enzymtechnologie, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Forschungszentrum Juelich, D-52426 Juelich, Germany
2 Lehrstuhl für Biologie der Mikroorganismen, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, D-44801 Bochum, Germany
3 Laboratorium voor Ultrastructuur, Vlaams Interuniversitair Instituut voor Biotechnologie and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, B-1050 Brussel, Belgium
4 Biofilm Centre, Abteilung Aquatische Mikrobiologie, Universität Duisburg-Essen, D-47057 Duisburg, Germany

Correspondence
Karl-Erich Jaeger
karl-erich.jaeger{at}fz-juelich.de

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen which causes a variety of diseases, including respiratory tract infections in patients suffering from cystic fibrosis. Therapeutic treatment of P. aeruginosa infections is still very difficult because the bacteria exhibit high intrinsic resistance against a variety of different antibiotics and, in addition, form stable biofilms, e.g. in the human lung. Several virulence factors are produced by P. aeruginosa, among them the two lectins LecA and LecB, which exert different cytotoxic effects on respiratory epithelial cells and presumably facilitate bacterial adhesion to the airway mucosa. Here, the physiology has been studied of the lectin LecB, which binds specifically to L-fucose. A LecB-deficient P. aeruginosa mutant was shown to be impaired in biofilm formation when compared with the wild-type strain, suggesting an important role for LecB in this process. This result prompted an investigation of the subcellular localization of LecB by cell fractionation and subsequent immunoblotting. The results show that LecB is abundantly present in the bacterial outer-membrane fraction. It is further demonstrated that LecB could be released specifically by treatment of the outer-membrane fraction with p-nitrophenyl {alpha}-L-fucose, whereas treatment with D-galactose had no effect. In contrast, a LecB protein carrying the mutation D104A, which results in a defective sugar-binding site, was no longer detectable in the membrane fraction, suggesting that LecB binds to specific carbohydrate ligands located at the bacterial cell surface. Staining of biofilm cells using fluorescently labelled LecB confirmed the presence of these ligands.

Abbreviations: CF, cystic fibrosis; CLSM, confocal laser scanning microscopy; pNPC, p-nitrophenyl caproate; pNPF, p-nitrophenyl {alpha}-L-fucose




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Bacteriol.Home page
Y. Zilliges, J.-C. Kehr, S. Mikkat, C. Bouchier, N. T. de Marsac, T. Borner, and E. Dittmann
An Extracellular Glycoprotein Is Implicated in Cell-Cell Contacts in the Toxic Cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa PCC 7806
J. Bacteriol., April 15, 2008; 190(8): 2871 - 2879.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 MicrobiologyHome page
J. Rao, A. DiGiandomenico, J. Unger, Y. Bao, R. K. Polanowska-Grabowska, and J. B. Goldberg
A novel oxidized low-density lipoprotein-binding protein from Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Microbiology, February 1, 2008; 154(2): 654 - 665.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Infect. Immun.Home page
E. C. Hagan and H. L. T. Mobley
Uropathogenic Escherichia coli Outer Membrane Antigens Expressed during Urinary Tract Infection
Infect. Immun., August 1, 2007; 75(8): 3941 - 3949.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Infect. Immun.Home page
A. Sonawane, J. Jyot, and R. Ramphal
Pseudomonas aeruginosa LecB Is Involved in Pilus Biogenesis and Protease IV Activity but Not in Adhesion to Respiratory Mucins
Infect. Immun., December 1, 2006; 74(12): 7035 - 7039.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Bacteriol.Home page
J. C. N. Fong, K. Karplus, G. K. Schoolnik, and F. H. Yildiz
Identification and Characterization of RbmA, a Novel Protein Required for the Development of Rugose Colony Morphology and Biofilm Structure in Vibrio cholerae
J. Bacteriol., February 1, 2006; 188(3): 1049 - 1059.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 MicrobiologyHome page
K. Zinger-Yosovich, D. Sudakevitz, A. Imberty, N. C. Garber, and N. Gilboa-Garber
Production and properties of the native Chromobacterium violaceum fucose-binding lectin (CV-IIL) compared to homologous lectins of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA-IIL) and Ralstonia solanacearum (RS-IIL)
Microbiology, February 1, 2006; 152(2): 457 - 463.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
INT J SYST EVOL MICROBIOL MICROBIOLOGY J GEN VIROL
J MED MICROBIOL ALL SGM JOURNALS
Copyright © 2005 Society for General Microbiology.