Schembri Mark A, Dalsgaard Dorte, Klemm Per
Microbial Adhesion Group, BioCentrum-DTU, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark.
J Bacteriol. 2004 Mar;186(5):1249-57. doi: 10.1128/JB.186.5.1249-1257.2004.
Bacterial surface structures such as capsules and adhesins are generally regarded as important virulence factors. Here we demonstrate that capsules block the function of the self-recognizing protein antigen 43 through physical shielding. The phenomenon is not restricted to Escherichia coli but can occur in other gram-negative bacteria. Likewise, we show that other short adhesins exemplified by the AIDA-I protein are blocked by the presence of a capsule. The results support the notion that capsule polysaccharides sterically prevent receptor-target recognition of short bacterial adhesins. This negative interference has important biological consequences, such as affecting the ability of bacteria to form biofilms.
诸如荚膜和粘附素等细菌表面结构通常被视为重要的毒力因子。在此我们证明，荚膜通过物理屏蔽作用阻断了自我识别蛋白抗原43的功能。这种现象并不局限于大肠杆菌，在其他革兰氏阴性菌中也可能发生。同样，我们表明，以AIDA-I蛋白为代表的其他短粘附素也会因荚膜的存在而被阻断。这些结果支持了这样一种观点，即荚膜多糖在空间上阻止了细菌短粘附素与受体的靶向识别。这种负面干扰具有重要的生物学后果，比如影响细菌形成生物膜的能力。
