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J Bacteriol, June 1998, p. 2842-2848, Vol. 180, No. 11
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Purification and Characterization of Thin Pili of IncI1 Plasmids ColIb-P9 and R64: Formation of PilV-Specific Cell Aggregates by Type IV Pili

Tetsu Yoshida,1 Nobuhisa Furuya,1 Masayuki Ishikura,2 Toshiaki Isobe,2 Kazu Haino-Fukushima,1 Toshio Ogawa,3 and Teruya Komano1,*

Department of Biology1 and Department of Chemistry,2 Tokyo Metropolitan University, Minamiohsawa, Hachioji, Tokyo 192-0397, and Department of Dental Hygiene, Saitama College of Health, Urawa-shi, Saitama 338-0824,3 Japan

Received 20 November 1997/Accepted 9 March 1998

Thin pili of the closely related IncI1 plasmids ColIb-P9 and R64 are required only for liquid mating and belong to the type IV family of pili. They were sedimented by ultracentrifugation from culture medium in which Escherichia coli cells harboring ColIb-P9- or R64-derived plasmids had been grown, and then the pili were purified by CsCl density gradient centrifugation. In negatively stained thin pilus samples, long rods with a diameter of 6 nm, characteristic of type IV pili, were observed under an electron microscope. Gel electrophoretic analysis of purified ColIb-P9 thin pili indicated that thin pili consist of two kinds of proteins, pilin and the PilV protein. Pilin was demonstrated to be the product of the pilS gene. Pilin was first synthesized as a 22-kDa prepilin from the pilS gene and subsequently processed to a 19-kDa protein by the function of the pilU product. The N-terminal amino group of the processed protein was shown to be modified. The C-terminal segments of the pilV products vary among six or seven different types, as a result of shufflon DNA rearrangements of the pilV gene. These PilV proteins were revealed to comprise a minor component of thin pili. Formation of PilV-specific cell aggregates by ColIb-P9 and R64 thin pili was demonstrated and may play an important role in liquid mating.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biology, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Minamiohsawa, Hachioji, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan. Phone: 81-426-77-2568. Fax: 81-426-77-2559. E-mail: komano-teruya{at}c.metro-u.ac.jp.

J Bacteriol, June 1998, p. 2842-2848, Vol. 180, No. 11
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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