Neisseria gonorrhoeae PilV, a type IV pilus-associated protein essential to human epithelial cell adherence.

ABSTRACT: Type IV pili (Tfp) of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the Gram-negative etiologic agent of gonorrhea, facilitate colonization of the human host. Tfp are assumed to play a key role in the initial adherence to human epithelial cells by virtue of the associated adhesin protein PilC. To examine the structural and functional basis for adherence in more detail, we identified potential genes encoding polypeptides sharing structural similarities to PilE (the Tfp subunit) within the N. gonorrhoeae genome sequence database. We show here that a fiber subunit-like protein, termed PilV, is essential to organelle-associated adherence but dispensable for Tfp biogenesis and other pilus-related phenotypes, including autoagglutination, competence for natural transformation, and twitching motility. The adherence defe

SUBMITTER: Winther-Larsen HC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC65020 | biostudies-literature | 2001 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature