Abstract
Pathogenic Escherichia coli often carry determinants for several different adhesins. We show a direct communication between two adhesin gene clusters in uropathogenic E.coli: type 1 fimbriae (fim) and pyelonephritis-associated pili (pap). A regulator of pap, PapB, is a key factor in this cross-talk. FimB recombinase turns on type 1 fimbrial expression, and PapB inhibited phase transition by FimB in both off-to-on and on-to-off directions. On-to-off switching requiring FinE was increased by PapB. By analysis of FimB- and FimE-LacZ translational fusions it was concluded that the increase in on-to-off transition rates was via an increase in FimE expression. Inhibition of FimB-promoted switching was via a different mechanism: PapB inhibited FimB-promoted in vitro recombination, indicating that FimB activity was blocked at the fim switch. In vitro analyses showed that PapB bound to several DNA regions of the type 1 fimbrid operon, including the fim switch region. These data show that Pap expression turns off type 1 fimbriae expression in the same cell. Such cross-talk between adhesin gene clusters may bring about appropriate expression at the single cell level.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1450-1457 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | EMBO Journal |
Volume | 19 |
Issue number | 7 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 3 2000 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Adhesion
- Cross-talk
- Fimbriae
- Phase switch
- Regulation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Neuroscience
- Molecular Biology
- General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
- General Immunology and Microbiology