Effect of alpha-oligosaccharide phenotype of Neisseria gonorrhoeae strain MS11 on invasion of Chang conjunctival, HEC-1-B endometrial, and ME-180 cervical cells

The genes encoding the glycosyltransferases responsible for the addition of the five sugars in the alpha -oligosaccharide (alpha -OS) moiety of lipool igosaccharide (LOS) have been identified. Disruption of these glycosyltrans ferase genes singly or in combination results in corresponding truncations in LOS. In the present work we show that sequential deletion of the termina l four sugar residues of gonococcal alpha -OS had no discernible effect on the invasion of human conjunctival, endometrial, and cervical cell lines. H owever, deletion of the proximal glucose, which resulted in the complete de letion of alpha -OS, significantly impaired invasion of the gonococci into all three cell lines. The effect of deleting alpha -OS on invasion was inde pendent of and additive to the known invasion-promoting factor OpaA. These data suggest that the proximal glucose residue of the alpha -OS chain of LO S is required for efficient invasion of gonococci into host mucosa.