Pre-Growth Culture Conditions Affect Type 1 Fimbriae-Dependent Adhesion of .

Among various fimbrial structures used by to colonize host tissues, type 1 fimbriae (T1F) are among the most extensively studied. Although some experiments have shown the importance of T1F in the initial stages of infection, their exact role in the infection process is not fully known. We suggested that different outcomes of T1F investigations were due to the use of different pre-infection growth conditions for the induction of the T1F. We utilized qPCR, flow cytometry, and a wide range of adhesion assays to investigate Choleraesuis and Typhimurium adhesion in the context of T1F expression. We demonstrated that T1F expression was highly dependent on the pre-infection growth conditions. These growth conditions yielded T1F+ and T1F- populations of and, therefore, could be a factor influencing host cell interactions. We supported this conclusion by showing that increased levels of T1F expression directly correlated with higher levels of adherence to the intestinal epithelial IPEC-J2 cell line.