title: Chaperone-assisted pilus assembly and bacterial attachment.
abstract: Bacterial pili assembled by the chaperone-usher pathway can mediate microbial attachment, an early step in the establishment of an infection, by binding specifically to sugars present in host tissues. Recent work has begun to reveal the structural basis both of chaperone function in the biogenesis of these pili and of bacterial attachment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine, Missouri 63110, St Louis, USA.
authors.forename: F G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Sauer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barnhart
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Choudhury
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Knight
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Waksman
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Hultgren
mesh_terms: D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial / Q000378:metabolism; D018830:Adhesins, Escherichia coli; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion; D036781:Fimbriae Proteins; D010861:Fimbriae, Bacterial / Q000378:metabolism*; D018832:Molecular Chaperones / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D015388:Organelles / Q000378:metabolism; D011485:Protein Binding; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017510:Protein Folding
chemical_list: D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D018830:Adhesins, Escherichia coli; D018832:Molecular Chaperones; C058769:fimH protein, E coli; D036781:Fimbriae Proteins