title: Adherence of streptococcal isolates from cattle and horses to their respective host epithelial cells.
abstract: Adherence of Streptococcus dysgalactiae isolates from cattle and S equi isolates from horses to their respective host epithelial cells was compared with the adherence of S pyogenes to human epithelial cells. The adherence was quantitatively determined by use of fluorescein-labeled streptococci. All 3 streptococcal species adhered selectively to their respective host cells. The mechanism of adherence was evaluated by binding studies with adhesive plasma protein, fibronectin. Although all 3 streptococcal species bound fibronectin, S dysgalactiae and S equi interacted preferentially with a 210-kilodalton (kD) C-terminal fragment of fibronectin, whereas S pyogenes bound only a 29-kD N-terminal fragment. A synthetic peptide Gly-Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser, representing the host cell attachment site of fibronectin, partially inhibited the binding of fibronectin and of its 210 kD fragment to S dysgalactiae, but not to S equi. The binding of fibronectin and its 29-kD fragment to S pyogenes was not inhibited by Gly-Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser. These differences in binding activities corresponded to the ability of fibronectin to mediate the adherence of the streptococci to the epithelial cells: fibronectin strongly inhibited the adherence of S pyogenes and S equi to the epithelial cells, but only weakly inhibited that of S dysgalactiae.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Bacteriology and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Justus-Leibig-University, Giessen, Federal Republic of Germany.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Valentin-Weigand
authors.forename: G S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Chhatwal
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Blobel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion / Q000187:drug effects*; D002417:Cattle / Q000382:microbiology*; D004847:Epithelial Cells; D004848:Epithelium / Q000382:microbiology; D005353:Fibronectins / Q000494:pharmacology; D006736:Horses / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000166:cytology* / Q000382:microbiology; D013291:Streptococcus / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D013297:Streptococcus pyogenes / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D005353:Fibronectins