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Infection and Immunity, February 1999, p. 834-843, Vol. 67, No. 2
0019-9567/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Roles of PilC and PilE Proteins in Pilus-Mediated Adherence of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria meningitidis to Human Erythrocytes and Endothelial and Epithelial Cells

Ina Scheuerpflug,1,2,dagger Thomas Rudel,2 Roland Ryll,1 Jasmine Pandit,1 and Thomas F. Meyer1,2,*

Abteilung Infektionsbiologie, Max-Planck-Institut für Biologie, 72076 Tübingen,1 and Max-Planck-Institut für Infektionsbiologie, 10117 Berlin,2 Germany

Received 17 August 1998/Returned for modification 5 October 1998/Accepted 4 November 1998

Unlike other type 4 pili, the neisserial pili consist of at least two distinct proteins, the highly variable major subunit PilE forming the pilus fiber and the tip-associated adhesin PilC. PilC protein purified either from gonococci or from Escherichia coli interacted with different human epithelial cell lines, primary epithelial and endothelial cells. The binding of PilC protein efficiently prevented the attachment of piliated Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria meningitidis to these cell types. Fluorescent beads coated with pili prepared from piliated wild-type N. gonorrhoeae also adhered to these cells, in contrast to beads coated with pili prepared from a piliated PilC-deficient mutant. In the latter case, the binding of fluorescent beads was restored after pretreatment of the pilus-loaded beads with purified PilC. Piliated wild-type N. gonorrhoeae, the piliated PilC-deficient mutant, and N. gonorrhoeae pili assembled in Pseudomonas aeruginosa agglutinated human erythrocytes, while nonpiliated gonococci did not. Consistently, purified PilC did not agglutinate or bind to human erythrocytes, suggesting that N. gonorrhoeae PilE is responsible for pilus-mediated hemagglutination.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Max-Planck-Institut für Biologie, Abteilung Infektionsbiologie, Spemannstr. 34, 72076 Tübingen, Germany. Phone: 49 7071 601 222. Fax: 49 7071 61 03 79. E-mail: sinfbio{at}mpib-tuebingen.mpg.de.

dagger Present address: Institut für Zellbiologie, Technologiehof, 48149 Münster, Germany.

Infection and Immunity, February 1999, p. 834-843, Vol. 67, No. 2
0019-9567/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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