Roles of pilin and PilC in adhesion of Neisseria meningitidis to human epithelial and endothelial cells.
Pili and pilin antigenic variation play important roles in adhesion of Neisseria meningitidis (MC) to human epithelial and endothelial cells. We recently identified one pilin variant that confers high adhesiveness of MC to human epithelial cells in culture. However, other factor(s) also play a role in MC adhesiveness, since some nonadhesive variants of MC strain 8013 are piliated and produce the same pilin variant as adhesive derivatives. PilC1 and PilC2, high molecular weight outer membrane proteins in Neisseria gonorrhoeae, are proposed to play roles in pilus assembly. Strain 8013 also contains pilC1 and pilC2; their products function in a similar if not identical manner in pilus biogenesis. PilC1 has an additional function in that it also modulates adhesiveness of strain 8013.
Nassif
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Laboratoire de Microbiologie, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U 411, Faculté de Médecine Necker-Enfants-Malades, Paris, France.
Beretti
J L
JL
Lowy
J
J
Stenberg
P
P
O'Gaora
P
P
Pfeifer
J
J
Normark
S
S
So
M
M
D001422:Bacterial Adhesion; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000382:microbiology; D004848:Epithelium / Q000382:microbiology; D036781:Fimbriae Proteins; D010861:Fimbriae, Bacterial / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009344:Neisseria gonorrhoeae / Q000472:pathogenicity; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000166:cytology* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes / Q000737:chemistry
D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; C079208:pilC protein, Neisseria gonorrhoeae; D036781:Fimbriae Proteins