Sequencing of the gene encoding the major pilin of pilus colonization factor antigen III (CFA/III) of human enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli and evidence that CFA/III is related to type IV pili.

1995 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 724-728 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Taniguchi ◽  
Y Fujino ◽  
K Yamamoto ◽  
T Miwatani ◽  
T Honda
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Type Iv Pili ◽  
Enterotoxigenic Escherichia Coli ◽  
Gene Encoding ◽  
Colonization Factor ◽  
Type Iv ◽  
Factor Antigen

scholarly journals Gene Cluster for Assembly of Pilus Colonization Factor Antigen III of Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli

2001 ◽  
Vol 69 (9) ◽  
pp. 5864-5873 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tooru Taniguchi ◽  
Yukihiro Akeda ◽  
Ayako Haba ◽  
Yoko Yasuda ◽  
Koichiro Yamamoto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Nucleotide Sequence ◽  
Gene Cluster ◽  
Enterotoxigenic Escherichia Coli ◽  
Human Colon Carcinoma Cell ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Colonization Factor ◽  
Type Iv ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Factor Antigen

ABSTRACT The assembly of pilus colonization factor antigen III (CFA/III) of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) requires the processing of CFA/III major pilin (CofA) by a prepilin peptidase (CofP), similar to other type IV pilus formation systems. CofA is produced initially as a 26.5-kDa preform pilin (prepilin) and then processed to a 20.5-kDa mature pilin by CofP which is predicted to be localized in the inner membrane. In the present experiment, we determined the nucleotide sequence of the whole region for CFA/III formation and identified a cluster of 14 genes, includingcofA and cofP. Several proteins encoded bycof genes were similar to previously described proteins, such as the toxin-coregulated pili of Vibrio cholerae and the bundle-forming pili of enteropathogenic E. coli. The G+C content of the cof gene cluster was 37%, which was significantly lower than the average for the E. coli genome (50%). The introduction of a recombinant plasmid containing thecof gene cluster into the E. coli K-12 strain conferred CFA/III biogenesis and the ability of adhesion to the human colon carcinoma cell line Caco-2. This is the first report of a complete nucleotide sequence of the type IV pili found in human ETEC, and our results provide a useful model for studying the molecular mechanism of CFA/III biogenesis and the role of CFA/III in ETEC infection.

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