title: Pili of oral Streptococcus sanguinis bind to fibronectin and contribute to cell adhesion.
abstract: Streptococcus sanguinis is a predominant bacterium in the human oral cavity and occasionally causes infective endocarditis. We identified a unique cell surface polymeric structure named pili in this species and investigated its functions in regard to its potential virulence. Pili of S. sanguinis strain SK36 were shown to be composed of three distinctive pilus proteins (PilA, PilB, and PilC), and a pili-deficient mutant demonstrated reduced bacterial adherence to HeLa and human oral epithelial cells. PilC showed a binding ability to fibronectin, suggesting that pili are involved in colonization by this species. In addition, ATCC10556, a standard S. sanguinis strain, was unable to produce pili due to defective pilus genes, which indicates a diversity of pilus expression among various S. sanguinis strains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Frontier Biology, Graduate School of Dentistry, Osaka University, 1-8 Yamadaoka, Suita-Osaka 565-0871, Japan. okahashi@dent.osaka-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Nobuo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Okahashi
authors.forename: Masanobu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakata
authors.forename: Atsuo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sakurai
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Terao
authors.forename: Tomonori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hoshino
authors.forename: Masaya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: Ryutaro
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Isoda
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sumitomo
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.forename: Shigetada
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kawabata
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ooshima
mesh_terms: D001422:Bacterial Adhesion; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005353:Fibronectins / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D010861:Fimbriae, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D009055:Mouth / Q000382:microbiology*; D013298:Streptococcus sanguis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D005353:Fibronectins