Båga M, Norgren M, Normark S
Cell. 1987 Apr 24;49(2):241-51. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90565-4.
The biogenesis of Escherichia coli Pap pili, encoded by the pap gene cluster, was studied. A novel gene, papH, was identified and found to encode a weakly expressed pilin-like protein. PapH was dispensable for digalactoside-specific binding and for formation of Pap pili. However, in papH deletion mutants 50%-70% of total pilus antigen was found free of the cells. We present evidence showing coregulation of papH and the adjacent gene, papA, which encodes the major pilin subunit. A decrease in the PapA to PapH ratio resulted in a large fraction of cells producing shortened pili, whereas overproduction of PapA relative to PapH resulted in cells with lengthened pili. The data show that PapH has roles in anchoring the pilus to the cell and in modulating pilus length.
对由pap基因簇编码的大肠杆菌Pap菌毛的生物合成进行了研究。鉴定出一个新基因papH，发现它编码一种低表达的菌毛样蛋白。PapH对于二半乳糖苷特异性结合和Pap菌毛的形成并非必需。然而，在papH缺失突变体中，发现50%-70%的总菌毛抗原游离于细胞之外。我们提供的证据表明papH与相邻基因papA存在共调控，papA编码主要菌毛亚基。PapA与PapH比例的降低导致很大一部分细胞产生缩短的菌毛，而相对于PapH过量产生PapA则导致细胞产生延长的菌毛。数据表明，PapH在将菌毛锚定到细胞以及调节菌毛长度方面发挥作用。
