Diversification of the AlpB Outer Membrane Protein of Helicobacter pylori Affects Biofilm Formation and Cellular Adhesion.

is one of the most common causes of bacterial infection in humans, and it forms biofilms on human gastric mucosal epithelium as well as on abiotic surfaces. Bacterial biofilm is critical not only for environmental survival but also for successful infection. We previously demonstrated that strain TK1402, which was isolated from a Japanese patient with duodenal and gastric ulcers, has high biofilm-forming ability relative to other strains. In addition, we showed that outer membrane vesicles (OMV) play an important role in biofilm formation. The aim of this study was to analyze which protein(s) in the OMV contributes to biofilm formation in TK1402. We obtained a spontaneous mutant strain derived from TK1402 lacking biofilm-forming ability. The protein profiles of the OMV were compared between this mutant strain and the wild type, and it was found that AlpB, an outer membrane protein in the OMV of the mutant strain, was markedly decreased compared to that of the wild type. Restoration of TK1402 to the mutant strain fully recovered the ability to form biofilm. However, restoration with from other strains demonstrated incomplete recovery of biofilm-forming ability. We therefore inferred that the variable region of AlpB (amino acid positions 121 to 146) was involved in TK1402 biofilm formation. In addition, diversification of the AlpB sequence was shown to affect the ability to adhere to AGS cells. These results demonstrate a new insight into the molecular mechanisms of host colonization by Bacterial biofilm is critical not only for environmental survival but also for successful infection. The mechanism of adherence to host cells mediated by cell surface adhesins has been the focus of many studies, but little is known regarding factors involved in biofilm formation. Our study demonstrated that AlpB plays an important role in biofilm formation and that this property depends upon the specific sequence of This in turn was shown to be important in the ability to adhere to gastric cells. We anticipate that these results will provide new insight into the molecular mechanisms of colonization.