Ja. Roberts et al., THE GAL(ALPHA-1-4)GAL-SPECIFIC TIP ADHESIN OF ESCHERICHIA-COLI P-FIMBRIAE IS NEEDED FOR PYELONEPHRITIS TO OCCUR IN THE NORMAL URINARY, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United Statesof America, 91(25), 1994, pp. 11889-11893
Nonobstructive acute pyelonephritis in humans is most often caused by
P-fimbriated Escherichia coli. P-fimbriae are heteropolymeric fibers c
arrying a Gal(alpha 1-4)Gal-specific PapG adhesin at its distal end. T
he pyelonephritic strain DS17 expresses P-fimbriae from a single gene
cluster. A mutant strain, DS17-8, which expresses P-fimbriae lacking t
he PapG adhesin, was constructed by allelic replacement introducing a
1-bp deletion early in the papG gene. In cynomolgus monkeys, DS17 and
DS17-8 were equally able to cause bladder infection, whereas only the
wild-type strain DS17 could cause pyelonephritis as monitored by bacte
riological, functional and histopathological criteria. Since DS17, but
not DS17-8, adheres to renal tissue, these data underscore the critic
al role of microbial adherence to host tissues in infectious disease a
nd strongly suggest that the PapG tip adhesin of P-fimbriae is essenti
al in the pathogenesis of human kidney infection.