title: The surface protease ompT serves as Escherichia coli K1 adhesin in binding to human brain micro vascular endothelial cells.
abstract: Escherichia coli (E. coli) K1 is the most common bacteria that cause meningitis in the neonatal period. But it's not entirely clear about how E. coli crosses the blood-brain barrier. The features of the ompT deletion in meningitic E. coli infection were texted in vitro. In comparison with the parent strain, the isogenic ompT deletion mutant was significantly less adhesive to human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMEC). The adhesion-deficient phenotype of the mutant was restored to the level of the wild-type by complementing with low-level OmpT expression plasmid. Interestingly, the adhesion was enhanced by point mutation at the OmpT proposed catalytic residue D85. Compared with the poor adhesive activity of bovine serum albumin-coated fluorescent beads, recombinant OmpT or catalytically inactive variant of OmpT-coated beads bound to HBMEC monolayer effectively. Our study suggests that OmpT is important for bacterial adhesion while entering into central nervous system, and the adhesion does not involve in the proteolytic activity of OmpT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: Shenzhen Prevention and Treatment Center for Occupational Diseases, Shenzhen, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Shenzhen Prevention and Treatment Center for Occupational Diseases, Shenzhen, China.
authors.forename: Chang-Ye
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Hui
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Lu
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Wen-Bing
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cao
mesh_terms: D018830:Adhesins, Escherichia coli / Q000502:physiology*; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000382:microbiology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000382:microbiology*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016920:Meningitis, Bacterial / Q000382:microbiology; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D018830:Adhesins, Escherichia coli; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C499588:ompT protein, E coli; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases