This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Park, H.-S. M. Articles by Koomey, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Park, H.-S. M. Articles by Koomey, M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

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, Matthew Wolfgang,^1, and Michael Koomey^1,2,3*

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.

Editor: A. D. O'Brien

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

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

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Han, X., Kennan, R. M., Davies, J. K., Reddacliff, L. A., Dhungyel, O. P., Whittington, R. J., Turnbull, L., Whitchurch, C. B., Rood, J. I. (2008). Twitching Motility Is Essential for Virulence in Dichelobacter nodosus. J. Bacteriol. 190: 3323-3335 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Bullard, B., Lipski, S. L., Lafontaine, E. R. (2005). Hag Directly Mediates the Adherence of Moraxella catarrhalis to Human Middle Ear Cells. Infect. Immun. 73: 5127-5136 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kirchner, M., Heuer, D., Meyer, T. F. (2005). CD46-Independent Binding of Neisserial Type IV Pili and the Major Pilus Adhesin, PilC, to Human Epithelial Cells. Infect. Immun. 73: 3072-3082 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Chiang, P., Habash, M., Burrows, L. L. (2005). Disparate Subcellular Localization Patterns of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Type IV Pilus ATPases Involved in Twitching Motility. J. Bacteriol. 187: 829-839 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Aukema, K. G., Kron, E. M., Herdendorf, T. J., Forest, K. T. (2005). Functional Dissection of a Conserved Motif within the Pilus Retraction Protein PilT. J. Bacteriol. 187: 611-618 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Collins, R. F., Frye, S. A., Kitmitto, A., Ford, R. C., Tonjum, T., Derrick, J. P. (2004). Structure of the Neisseria meningitidis Outer Membrane PilQ Secretin Complex at 12 A Resolution. J. Biol. Chem. 279: 39750-39756 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Maier, B., Koomey, M., Sheetz, M. P. (2004). A force-dependent switch reverses type IV pilus retraction. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101: 10961-10966 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Gill, D. B., Koomey, M., Cannon, J. G., Atkinson, J. P. (2003). Down-regulation of CD46 by Piliated Neisseria gonorrhoeae. J. Exp. Med. 198: 1313-1322 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Zolfaghar, I., Evans, D. J., Fleiszig, S. M. J. (2003). Twitching Motility Contributes to the Role of Pili in Corneal Infection Caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Infect. Immun. 71: 5389-5393 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Chiang, P., Burrows, L. L. (2003). Biofilm Formation by Hyperpiliated Mutants of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. J. Bacteriol. 185: 2374-2378 [Abstract] [Full Text]