Endocarditis and biofilm-associated pili of Enterococcus faecalis
| Autor: | Sreedhar R. Nallapareddy, Magnus Höök, Kavindra V. Singh, Danielle A. Garsin, Jouko Sillanpää, Barbara E. Murray, Stanley L. Erlandsen |
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| Rok vydání: | 2006 |
| Předmět: |
Male
Fimbria Kidney Models Biological Bacterial Adhesion Enterococcus faecalis Pilus Fimbriae Proteins Microbiology Rats Sprague-Dawley Bacterial Proteins Sortase Gene Order Operon medicine Animals Humans Endocarditis Aorta Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections biology Biofilm Endocarditis Bacterial General Medicine Aminoacyltransferases medicine.disease biology.organism_classification Molecular biology Rats Cysteine Endopeptidases Disease Models Animal Microscopy Electron Mutagenesis Insertional Pilus shaft Biofilms Fimbriae Bacterial Mutation Commentary Gene Deletion Protein Binding Research Article |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Clinical Investigation. 116:2799-2807 |
| ISSN: | 0021-9738 |
| DOI: | 10.1172/jci29021 |
| Popis: | Increasing multidrug resistance in Enterococcus faecalis, a nosocomial opportunist and common cause of bacterial endocarditis, emphasizes the need for alternative therapeutic approaches such as immunotherapy or immunoprophylaxis. In an earlier study, we demonstrated the presence of antibodies in E. faecalis endocarditis patient sera to recombinant forms of 9 E. faecalis cell wall-anchored proteins; of these, we have now characterized an in vivo-expressed locus of 3 genes and an associated sortase gene (encoding sortase C; SrtC). Here, using mutation analyses and complementation, we demonstrated that both the ebp (encoding endocarditis and biofilm-associated pili) operon and srtC are important for biofilm production of E. faecalis strain OG1RF. In addition, immunogold electron microscopy using antisera against EbpA-EbpC proteins as well as patient serum demonstrated that E. faecalis produces pleomorphic surface pili. Assembly of pili and their cell wall attachment appeared to occur via a mechanism of cross-linking of the Ebp proteins by the designated SrtC. Importantly, a nonpiliated, allelic replacement mutant was significantly attenuated in an endocarditis model. These biologically important surface pili, which are antigenic in humans during endocarditis and encoded by a ubiquitous E. faecalis operon, may be a useful immunotarget for studies aimed at prevention and/or treatment of this pathogen. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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