title: Both flagella and F4 fimbriae from F4ac+ enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli contribute to attachment to IPEC-J2 cells in vitro.
abstract: The role of flagella in the pathogenesis of F4ac+ Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) mediated neonatal and post-weaning diarrhea (PWD) is not currently understood. We targeted the reference C83902 ETEC strain (O8:H19:F4ac+ LT+ STa+ STb+), to construct isogenic mutants in the fliC (encoding the major flagellin protein), motA (encoding the flagella motor), and faeG (encoding the major subunit of F4 fimbriae) genes. Both the ΔfliC and ΔfaeG mutants had a reduced ability to adhere to porcine intestinal epithelial IPEC-J2 cells. F4 fimbriae expression was significantly down-regulated after deleting fliC, which revealed that co-regulation exists between flagella and F4 fimbriae. However, there was no difference in adhesion between the ΔmotA mutant and its parent strain. These data demonstrate that both flagella and F4 fimbriae are required for efficient F4ac+ ETEC adhesion in vitro.
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China. yzgqzhu@yzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Mingxu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Qiangde
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.forename: Xiaofang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Zhiyan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Yinchau
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Philip R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Hardwidge
authors.forename: Guoqiang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D018830:Adhesins, Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D002460:Cell Line; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology*; D054307:Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000382:microbiology; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D010861:Fimbriae, Bacterial / Q000378:metabolism*; D005407:Flagella / Q000378:metabolism*; D005408:Flagellin; D013552:Swine; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology*; D014774:Virulence; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018830:Adhesins, Escherichia coli; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C494388:FaeG protein, E coli; C516095:FliC protein, E coli; C063010:MotA protein, Bacteria; D037521:Virulence Factors; D005408:Flagellin