Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Jansson, Lena
• Tobias, Joshua
• Lebens, Michael
• Svennerholm, Ann-Mari
• Teneberg, Susann

Titel

Major Subunit, CfaB, of Colonization Factor Antigen I from Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli Is a Glycosphingolipid Binding Protein

Ist Teil von

• Infection and Immunity, 2006-06, Vol.74 (6), p.3488-3497

Ort / Verlag

Washington, DC: American Society for Microbiology

Erscheinungsjahr

2006

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Bacterial adherence to mucosal surfaces is an important virulence trait of pathogenic bacteria. Adhesion of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) to the intestine is mediated by a number of antigenically distinct colonization factors (CFs). One of the most common CFs is CFA/I. This has a fimbrial structure composed of a major repeating subunit, CfaB, and a single tip subunit, CfaE. The potential carbohydrate recognition by CFA/I was investigated by binding CFA/I-fimbriated bacteria and purified CFA/I fimbriae to a large number of variant glycosphingolipids separated on thin-layer chromatograms. For both fimbriated bacteria and purified fimbriae, specific interactions could be identified with a number of nonacid glycosphingolipids. These included glucosylceramide, lactosylceramide with phytosphingosine and/or hydroxy fatty acids, neolactotetraosylceramide, gangliotriaosylceramide, gangliotetraosylceramide, the H5 type 2 pentaglycosylceramide, the Lea-5 glycosphingolipid, the Lex-5 glycosphingolipid, and the Ley-6 glycosphingolipid. These glycosphingolipids were also recognized by recombinant E. coli expressing CFA/I in the absence of tip protein CfaE, as well as by purified fimbriae from the same strain. This demonstrates that the glycosphingolipid-binding capacity of CFA/I resides in the major CfaB subunit.