A surface-exposed DraD protein of uropathogenic Escherichia coli bearing Dr fimbriae may be expressed and secreted independently from DraC usher and DraE adhesin.
The dra gene cluster, expressed by uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains, determines bacterial attachment and invasion. The Dr fimbrial structures formed at the bacterial cell surface are composed of DraE subunits. The Dr fimbriae-coding cluster contains six open reading frames--draA, draB, draC, draD, draP and draE--among which the draE gene encodes the structural fimbrial subunit DraE. Very little is known about E. coli surface expression of the draD gene product. The expression of DraD and its role in the biogenesis of Dr fimbriae were determined by constructing mutants in the dra operon and by immunoblot and immunofluorescence experiments. In this study, DraD was found to be a surface-exposed protein. The expression of DraD was independent of the DraC usher and DraE fimbrial subunits. Polymerization of DraE fimbrial subunits into fimbrial structures did not require expression of the DraD protein.
Department of Microbiology, Gdańsk University of Technology, ul. G. Narutowicza 11/12, 80-952 Gdańsk, Poland.
Beata
B
Zalewska
Department of Microbiology, Gdańsk University of Technology, ul. G. Narutowicza 11/12, 80-952 Gdańsk, Poland.
Rafał
R
Piątek
Department of Microbiology, Gdańsk University of Technology, ul. G. Narutowicza 11/12, 80-952 Gdańsk, Poland.
Katarzyna
K
Bury
Department of Clinical Microbiology, Public Hospital No. 1, Gdańsk, Poland.
Alfred
A
Samet
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
Bogdan
B
Nowicki
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
Stella
S
Nowicki
Department of Microbiology, Gdańsk University of Technology, ul. G. Narutowicza 11/12, 80-952 Gdańsk, Poland.
Józef
J
Kur
D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D018830:Adhesins, Escherichia coli / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D010861:Fimbriae, Bacterial / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data
D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D018830:Adhesins, Escherichia coli; C465563:DraE protein, E coli; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins