Population variability of the FimH type 1 fimbrial adhesin in Klebsiella pneumoniae.

ABSTRACT: FimH is an adhesive subunit of type 1 fimbriae expressed by different enterobacterial species. The enteric bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae is an environmental organism that is also a frequent cause of sepsis, urinary tract infection (UTI), and liver abscess. Type 1 fimbriae have been shown to be critical for the ability of K. pneumoniae to cause UTI in a murine model. We show here that the K. pneumoniae fimH gene is found in 90% of strains from various environmental and clinical sources. The fimH alleles exhibit relatively low nucleotide and structural diversity but are prone to frequent horizontal-transfer events between different bacterial clones. Addition of the fimH locus to multiple-locus sequence typing significantly improved the resolution of the clonal structure of pathogenic strai

SUBMITTER: Stahlhut SG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2648365 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature