Binding of CFA/I Pili of Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli to Asialo-GM1 Is Mediated by the Minor Pilin CfaE.

ABSTRACT: CFA/I pili are representatives of a large family of related pili that mediate the adherence of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli to intestinal epithelial cells. They are assembled via the alternate chaperone-usher pathway and consist of two subunits, CfaB, which makes up the pilus shaft and a single pilus tip-associated subunit, CfaE. The current model of pilus-mediated adherence proposes that CFA/I has two distinct binding activities; the CfaE subunit is responsible for binding to receptors of unknown structure on erythrocyte and intestinal epithelial cell surfaces, while CfaB binds to various glycosphingolipids, including asialo-GM1. In this report, we present two independent lines of evidence that, contrary to the existing model, CfaB does not bind to asialo-GM1 independently of CfaE. Ne

SUBMITTER: Madhavan TPV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4862694 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature