Epidemic isolates of Vibrio cholerae 0139 express antigenically distinct types of colonization pili |
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| Authors: | T.K. Sengupta D.K. Sengupta G. Balakrish Nair Asoke C. Ghose |
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| Affiliation: | Department of Microbiology, Bose Institute, P-1/12, C.I.T. Scheme VIII M, Calcutta 700 054, India; Department of Microbiology, National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Calcutta 700 010, India |
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| Abstract: | Abstract Vibrio cholerae belonging to the recently described serogroup 0139, which are responsible for the current cholera epidemics in India and Bangladesh, were shown to express pilus-like structures partially cross-reacting with the toxin-coregulated pilus of V. cholerae strain (0395) belonging to the 01 serogroup and classical biotype. The 0139 pili were composed of 20 kDa subunit proteins which were antigenically related to the 20 kDa pilus protein of another diarrhoeagenic non-01 V. cholerae strain (serogroup 034) isolated earlier. The pili described in this study were found to be involved in the intestinal colonization process and, therefore, may contribute towards the virulence of the 0139 epidemic isolates. |
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| Keywords: | Vibrio cholerae 0139 Intestinal colonization Pilus antigen |
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