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Journal of Bacteriology, January 2006, p. 370-377, Vol. 188, No. 2
0021-9193/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.188.2.370-377.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Nanoscale Characterization and Determination of Adhesion Forces of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Pili by Using Atomic Force Microscopy

Ahmed Touhami,1 Manfred H. Jericho,1* Jessica M. Boyd,2 and Terry J. Beveridge3

Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 3J5,1 National Research Council of Canada Institute for Marine Biosciences, 1411 Oxford St., Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 3Z1,2 Canadian Bacterial Disease Network, National Centre of Excellence, Department of Microbiology, College of Biological Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W13

Received 25 August 2005/ Accepted 31 October 2005

Type IV pili play an important role in bacterial adhesion, motility, and biofilm formation. Here we present high-resolution atomic force microscopy (AFM) images of type IV pili from Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria. An individual pilus ranges in length from 0.5 to 7 µm and has a diameter from 4 to 6 nm, although often, pili bundles in which the individual filaments differed in both length and diameter were seen. By attaching bacteria to AFM tips, it was possible to fasten the bacteria to mica surfaces by pili tethers. Force spectra of tethered pili gave rupture forces of 95 pN. The slopes of force curves close to the rupture force were nearly linear but showed little variation with pilus length. Furthermore, force curves could not be fitted with wormlike-chain polymer stretch models when using realistic persistence lengths for pili. The observation that the slopes near rupture did not depend on the pili length suggests that they do not represent elastic properties of the pili. It is possible that this region of the force curves is determined by an elastic element that is part of the bacterial wall, although further experiments are needed to confirm this.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 3J5. Phone: (902) 494-2316. Fax: (902) 494-5191. E-mail: jericho{at}fizz.dal.ca.

Journal of Bacteriology, January 2006, p. 370-377, Vol. 188, No. 2
0021-9193/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.188.2.370-377.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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