Adhesins

Adhesins are factors produced by bacteria that enable the bacterium to adhere to structures or cells of the host . The adhesion with the help of adhesins prevents the removal or the washing away of the bacterium and is therefore a prerequisite for the colonization and infection of the host. The expression of adhesins in some types of bacteria is dependent and regulated by the environmental conditions.

Some adhesins induce uptake by the host cell by binding to lectins (e.g. Yersinia enterocolitica , Shigella flexneri ). The adhesins and their specificity for certain proteins on host cells explain , among other things, the organotropism of some bacteria.

Examples

Adhesin	Examples
Fimbriae	Filamentous cell surface structures made from pilin enable gonococci to adhere to urothelium . P fimbriae also allow uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains to attach to the urothelium.
Not fimbrial adhesins	Pertactin from Bordetella pertussis mediates adhesion to bronchial mucosa. Protein F enables Streptococcus pyogenes to adhere to fibronectin . Staphylococcus aureus attaches to fibronectin via the fibronectin-binding protein.

literature

• Bernhard Lepper: Flash cards microbiology. Elsevier, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-437-41681-2 .