title: Differential adherence of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli harboring saa to epithelial cells.
abstract: The majority of Shiga toxigenic Escherichia coli (STEC) strains isolated from severe STEC disease are those harboring the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE), which encodes factors involved in adherence to epithelial cells. However, LEE-negative STEC are increasingly isolated from clinical cases. STEC autoagglutinating adhesin (Saa) is widely used as a marker of adhesin in the absence of LEE. In the present study, we compared the adherence of 32 saa-harboring STEC strains to cultured epithelial cells in the absence or presence of d-mannose. In the absence of d-mannose, 19 strains were adherent to HEp-2 and Caco-2 cells, while 12 were non-adherent. One strain showed detachment of epithelial cells. The adherence of 13 strains was sensitive to the presence of d-mannose. The saa mutant of strain T141, in which adherence was mannose resistant, did not show a significant decrease in adherence compared to the wild type, suggesting a Saa-independent mechanism of adherence. saa-harboring STEC exhibited differential binding properties to epithelial cells, which could not be attributed to the number of C-terminal repeats of Saa, or to the expression of Saa as detected by Western blotting. Our results suggest that multiple adherence mechanisms are present in saa-harboring STEC, implying a high degree of diversity in this group of STEC.
authors.affiliation: Division of Bacterial Pathogenesis, Department of Microbiology, Graduate School of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Uehara 207, Okinawa, 903-0125, Japan. claudia@med.u-ryukyu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Toma
authors.forename: Noboru
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nakasone
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Miliwebsky
authors.forename: Naomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Higa
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rivas
authors.forename: Toshihiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suzuki
mesh_terms: D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000382:microbiology*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008358:Mannose / Q000378:metabolism; D054323:Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C439650:SAA protein, E coli; D008358:Mannose