This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Humphries, R. M.
Right arrow Articles by Armstrong, G. D.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Humphries, R. M.
Right arrow Articles by Armstrong, G. D.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infection and Immunity, October 2009, p. 4463-4468, Vol. 77, No. 10
0019-9567/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00686-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Interactions of Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli with Pediatric and Adult Intestinal Biopsy Specimens during Early Adherence {triangledown}

Romney M. Humphries,1,{dagger} Christopher C. M. Waterhouse,2 George Mulvey,1 Paul Beck,3 and Glen D. Armstrong1*

Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada,1 Division of Paediatric Gastroenterology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada,2 Division of Gastroenterology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada3

Received 16 June 2009/ Returned for modification 7 July 2009/ Accepted 16 July 2009

Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) strains cause watery diarrhea almost exclusively in young children. The basis for this age discrimination has never been determined, but it may be related to host cell receptors. During infection, EPEC strains express type IV bundle-forming pili composed of repeating subunits of the protein called bundlin. The very first interaction between EPEC and in vitro-cultured epithelial cells is mediated by the binding of {alpha}-bundlin to a carbohydrate receptor that contains, at a minimum, the N-acetyllactosamine (LacNAc) glycan sequence. However, bundlins expressed from the β-bundlin allele do not bind LacNAc glycan sequences. Herein, we investigated whether EPEC strains use {alpha}-bundlin to mediate early adherence to human intestinal biopsy specimens cultured in vitro by assessing the ability of isogenic EPEC mutants expressing either the {alpha}1- or β1-bundlin allele or a bundlin-deficient EPEC strain to bind to these specimens. Furthermore, we directly compared the abilities of a wild-type EPEC strain to bind to the epithelial surfaces of both human adult and pediatric biopsy specimens. Our results demonstrate that β-bundlin does not act as an adhesin during early EPEC adherence to adult duodenal biopsy specimens. The results also indicate that EPEC binds equally well to adult and pediatric biopsy specimens in an early adherence assay. This result is supported by the finding that the early adherence of EPEC to both adult and pediatric biopsy specimens was inhibited by LacNAc neoglycoconjugates, suggesting that organisms expressing {alpha}-bundlin-type bundle-forming pili initially bind to related glycan receptors in both age groups.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada. Phone: (403) 220-6885. Fax: (403) 270-2772. E-mail: glen.armstrong{at}ucalgary.ca

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 27 July 2009.

Editor: B. A. McCormick

{dagger} Present address: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA.

Infection and Immunity, October 2009, p. 4463-4468, Vol. 77, No. 10
0019-9567/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00686-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»