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J. Bacteriol., 02 1995, 1030-1038, Vol 177, No. 4
US Sajjan, L Sun, R Goldstein and JF Forstner
Previous studies have shown that appendage pili of Burkholderia cepacia
strains isolated from patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) at The Hospital
for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada, mediate adherence to mucus
glycoproteins and also enhance adherence to epithelial cells. The specific
pilin-associated adhesin molecule is a 22-kDa protein. In the present study
we purified the major subunit pilin (17 kDa) and immunolocalized it to
peritrichously arranged pili. On the basis of their novel morphological
appearance as giant intertwined fibers, we refer to them as cable (Cbl)
pili. Using an oligonucleotide probe corresponding to regions of the
N-terminal amino acid sequence of the pilin subunit, we detected the
encoding cblA gene in a chromosomal DNA library. Sequencing revealed this
structural gene to be 555 bp in length, encoding a leader sequence of 19
amino acids, a cleavage site between the alanine at position 19 and the
valine at position 20, and a mature pilin sequence of 165 amino acids. The
calculated molecular mass is 17.3 kDa. Hydrophobic plus apolar amino acids
account for 60% of the total residues. The pilin exhibits some similarities
in its amino acid sequence to colonization factor antigen I and CS1
fimbriae of Escherichia coli. With the cblA gene used as a probe,
hybridization assays of 59 independent isolates, including those from
several geographically separated CF centers, plus environmental and
clinical (non-CF) strains, gave positive results with all of the 15 CF-
associated B. cepacia isolates from Toronto, plus a single strain from one
other CF center (Jackson, Mississippi). The cblA gene is the first pilin
subunit gene of B. cepacia to be identified.
Copyright © 1995, American Society for Microbiology
Cable (cbl) type II pili of cystic fibrosis-associated Burkholderia (Pseudomonas) cepacia: nucleotide sequence of the cblA major subunit pilin gene and novel morphology of the assembled appendage fibers [published erratum appears in J Bacteriol 1995 Jun;177(11):3558]
Division of Biochemistry, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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