Reguera Gemma, Kolter Roberto
Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
J Bacteriol. 2005 May;187(10):3551-5. doi: 10.1128/JB.187.10.3551-3555.2005.
The toxin-coregulated pilus (TCP) of Vibrio cholerae is required for intestinal colonization and cholera toxin acquisition. Here we report that TCP mediates bacterial interactions required for biofilm differentiation on chitinaceous surfaces. We also show that undifferentiated TCP- biofilms have reduced ecological fitness and, thus, that chitin colonization may represent an ecological setting outside the host in which selection for a host colonization factor may take place.
霍乱弧菌的毒素共调节菌毛（TCP）是肠道定植和获取霍乱毒素所必需的。在此我们报告，TCP介导了在几丁质表面生物膜分化所需的细菌相互作用。我们还表明，未分化的TCP⁻生物膜具有降低的生态适应性，因此，几丁质定植可能代表了宿主之外的一种生态环境，在其中可能会发生对宿主定植因子的选择。
