%0 Journal Article %A Everest, Paul %A Li, Jingli %A Douce, Gillian %A Charles, Ian %A De Azavedo, Joyce %A Chatfield, Steven %A Dougan, Gordon %A Roberts, Mark %T Role of the Bordetella pertussis P.69/pertactin protein and the P.69/pertactin RGD motif in the adherence to and invasion of mammalian cells %D 1996 %J Microbiology, %V 142 %N 11 %P 3261-3268 %@ 1465-2080 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/13500872-142-11-3261 %K invasion %K RGD motif %K pertactin %K adhesion %K Bordetella pertussis %I Microbiology Society, %X The role of the Bordetella pertussis P.69/pertactin protein in mammalian cell adhesion and invasion was investigated. Salmonella strains expressing surface-associated P.69/pertactin from a chromosomally located prn gene were significantly more invasive than isogenic parental strains. This effect was most pronounced in the poorly invasive, semi-rough S. typhimurium strain LB5010. Escherichia coli K-12 strain HB101 harbouring the plasmid p41869D, which encodes the full-length prn gene under the control of the tac promoter on the broad-host-range plasmid pMMB66EH, was significantly more adhesive to HEp-2 and Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells growing in culture than E. coli HB101(pMMB66EH). However, the ability of E. coli to invade mammalian cells was not affected by P.69/pertactin expression. P.69/pertactin-mediated adhesiveness of HB101 to HEp-2 and CHO cells was not influenced by the viability of the bacterial cells. However, adherence was markedly reduced when assays were performed for less than 3 h, at 4°C or in the presence of cycloheximide, suggesting the active participation of the eukaryotic cell in bacterial adhesion. Site-directed mutagenesis was used to mutate Asp to Glu in an Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD→RGE) sequence present in mature P.69/pertactin and the mutated gene was cloned in the same broad-host-range vector (plasmid p41869E). This mutation had no detectable influence on the ability of P.69/pertactin to mediate adhesion of HB101 to HEp-2 or CHO cells. Plasmids p41869D and p41869E were introduced into the bvg-negative B. pertussis strain BP347. Expression of P.69RGD or P.69RGE did not enhance the adhesiveness of BP347 for epithelial (HEp-2 and CHO) cells. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/13500872-142-11-3261