MICR 221 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Pilus, Bacterial Adhesin, Periplasm

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Microbiology and Immunology
• Course: MICR 221
• Professor: Virginia K Walker

Document Summary

Widespread in gram negatives, rare in gram positives. Composition: 1000 copies of major pilin in shaft. Usually small molecular weight: small amount of adhesin at tip, involved in allowing cells to adhere to surfaces. Grow from the base (incorporations of new subunits into the base) Adhesin (allow bacteria to attach to surfaces) One type, type iv, twitching motility: surface mediated, not swimming. Many different types of pili differentiated by their receptor: coli infections of gi tract and urinary tract. Papa: bulk of the pilus fiber (about 1000 copies in every pillus) Pape, f and g : minor proteins at pilus tip (fibrillum: g is the actual adhesin, f (adaptor protein) needed to couple papg to pilus fibrillum, e major component of fibrillum. Pap c in outer membrane, removes proteins from papd: no papc = no pilli. Pap d act as chaperone, located in periplasm. Anchoring occurs to outer membrane in e coli.