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Infection and Immunity, July 2002, p. 3891-3903, Vol. 70, No. 7
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.7.3891-3903.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Modification of Type IV Pilus-Associated Epithelial Cell Adherence and Multicellular Behavior by the PilU Protein of Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Hae-Sun Moon Park,1,{dagger} Matthew Wolfgang,1,{ddagger} and Michael Koomey1,2,3*

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109,1 Biotechnology Centre of Oslo, University of Oslo, Blindern, N-0317 Oslo,2 Department of Microbiology, Institute of Pharmacy, University of Oslo, Blindern, N-0316 Oslo, Norway3

Received 8 August 2001/ Returned for modification 30 October 2001/ Accepted 28 February 2002

Expression of type IV pili (Tfp) correlates with the ability of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to colonize the human host, as well as with adherence to human epithelial tissue, twitching motility, competence for natural transformation, and autoagglutination. N. gonorrhoeae PilF (required for Tfp biogenesis) and PilT (required for twitching motility and transformation) share significant identities with members of a family of putative ATPases involved in membrane trafficking of macromolecules. An open reading frame downstream of the pilT locus encoding a 408-amino-acid protein with 33% identity with the gonococcal PilT protein and 45% identity with the PilU protein in Pseudomonas aeruginosa was characterized, and the corresponding gene was designated pilU. Unlike N. gonorrhoeae pilT mutants, pilU mutants express twitching motility and are competent for DNA transformation. However, loss-of-function mutations in pilU increased bacterial adherence to ME-180 human epithelial cells eightfold and disrupted in vitro Tfp-associated autoagglutination. Comparative alignment of N. gonorrhoeae PilU with other members of the TrbB-like family of traffic ATPases revealed a conserved carboxy-terminal domain unique to family members which are not essential for Tfp biogenesis but which specifically modify Tfp-associated phenotypes. Studies of the pilT-pilU locus by using Northern blotting, transcriptional fusions, and reverse transcription-PCR showed that the two genes encoding closely related proteins with dissimilar effects on Tfp phenotypes are transcribed from a single promoter.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Biotechnology Centre of Oslo, Box 1125, Blindern, N-0317 Olso, Norway. Phone: 47 22 840511. Fax: 47 22 840501. E-mail: johnk{at}biotek.uio.no.

Editor: A. D. O'Brien

{dagger} Present address: Department of Microbiology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN 55455.

{ddagger} Present address: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School Boston, MA 02115.

Infection and Immunity, July 2002, p. 3891-3903, Vol. 70, No. 7
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.7.3891-3903.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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