Figure 3

Selected structural features of O35E-Hag, schematic representation of in-frame deletions introduced in the protein, and adherence of recombinant E. coli bacteria expressing mutated Hag. Selected structural features are shown above in relation to their physical location within the O35E-Hag protein. Deletions within the protein are represented by gaps. Construct names are shown to the left. The columns to the right of each construct indicate the binding of E. coli expressing the mutated protein to NCIH292 cells (N), HMEE (H) or collagen (C). Adherence to NCIH292 and HMEE cells is expressed as the mean percentage (standard error shown in parentheses) of inoculated bacteria binding to monolayers. Adherence to collagen is expressed as the normalized mean number of bacteria per microscopic fields (standard error shown in parentheses) binding to collagen type IV coated wells; we estimated that 20 to 35 bacteria per microscopic field corresponds to 5–15% of input bacteria. Asterisks indicate that the difference in binding between E. coli expressing Hag proteins and the negative control is statistically significant. The negative control corresponds to E. coli carrying the plasmid control pCC1.3 and WT corresponds to recombinant bacteria harboring plasmid pELO35.Hag. The rectangles at the bottom indicate regions important for adherence to epithelial cells and collagen.