Phosphatidylethanolamine recognition promotes enteropathogenic E-coli and enterohemorrhagic E-coli host cell attachment

Using both solid phase and liposome aggregation assays, we screened a varie ty of glycolipids and phospholipids and found that EHEC and EPEC bind speci fically and in a dose-dependent manner to PE. This binding was consistently observed whether the lipid was immobilized on a thin layer chromatography plate, in a microtitre well or incorporated into a unilamellar vesicle susp ended in aqueous solution. There was no evidence of binding to other phosph olipids such as phosphatidylcholine (PC) or phosphatidylserine (PS). Bacter ial binding to two epithelial cell lines also correlated with the level of outer leaflet PE and was reduced following preincubation with anti-PE. The PE-binding phenotype of EPEC appeared to correlate with the bundle-forming pilus (bfp) genotype of a number of clinical isolates. These results provid e evidence of a receptor role for PE in the adhesion of EHEC and EPEC to ho st cells. (C) 1999 Academic Press.