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Journal of Bacteriology, March 2004, p. 1249-1257, Vol. 186, No. 5
0021-9193/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.186.5.1249-1257.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Capsule Shields the Function of Short Bacterial Adhesins

Microbial Adhesion Group, BioCentrum-DTU, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark¹

Received 26 September 2003/ Accepted 26 November 2003

Bacterial surface structures such as capsules and adhesins are generally regarded as important virulence factors. Here we demonstrate that capsules block the function of the self-recognizing protein antigen 43 through physical shielding. The phenomenon is not restricted to Escherichia coli but can occur in other gram-negative bacteria. Likewise, we show that other short adhesins exemplified by the AIDA-I protein are blocked by the presence of a capsule. The results support the notion that capsule polysaccharides sterically prevent receptor-target recognition of short bacterial adhesins. This negative interference has important biological consequences, such as affecting the ability of bacteria to form biofilms.

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