Contribution of FliC to Epithelial Cell Invasion by Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O113:H21

ABSTRACT

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O113:H21 can invade epithelial cells. In this study, we found that invasion but not adherence was inhibited by anti-FliC_H21 specific antibodies. In addition, deletion of fliC_H21 from EHEC O113:H21 resulted in an eightfold decrease in invasion that was restored upon transcomplementation with fliC_H21 but not with fliC_H6. These results suggested that FliC plays an important role in the pathogenesis of infections caused by EHEC O113:H21 by allowing bacteria to penetrate the intestinal epithelium.