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Infection and Immunity, February 1999, p. 1004-1008, Vol. 67, No. 2
0019-9567/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Essential Functional Role of the Polysaccharide Intercellular Adhesin of Staphylococcus epidermidis in Hemagglutination

Dietrich Mack,1,* Joachim Riedewald,1 Holger Rohde,1 Tim Magnus,1 Hubert H. Feucht,1 Holger-A. Elsner,1 Rainer Laufs,1 and Mark E. Rupp2

Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie und Immunologie, Universitätskrankenhaus Eppendorf, D-20246 Hamburg, Federal Republic of Germany,1 and Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska 68198-54002

Received 27 July 1998/Returned for modification 2 September 1998/Accepted 2 November 1998

Hemagglutination of erythrocytes is a common property of Staphylococcus epidermidis strains, which is related to adherence and biofilm formation and may be essential for the pathogenesis of biomaterial-associated infections caused by S. epidermidis. In three independent biofilm-producing, hemagglutination-positive S. epidermidis isolates, interruption of the icaADBC operon essential for polysaccharide intercellular adhesin (PIA) synthesis by Tn917 insertions led to a hemagglutination-negative phenotype. An immunoglobulin G fraction of antiserum to PIA greatly reduced hemagglutination. Purified PIA led to a 64-fold decrease of hemagglutination titers of these strains; however, it did not mediate hemagglutination by itself. These observations define PIA as the hemagglutinin of S. epidermidis or at least as its major functional component.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie und Immunologie, Universitätskrankenhaus Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, D-20246 Hamburg, Federal Republic of Germany. Phone: 49 40 4717 2143. Fax: 49 40 4717 4881. E-mail: dmack{at}uke.uni-hamburg.de.

Infection and Immunity, February 1999, p. 1004-1008, Vol. 67, No. 2
0019-9567/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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