ArticlePLoS pathogens2019
A stealth adhesion factor contributes to Vibrio vulnificus pathogenicity: Flp pili play roles in host invasion, survival in the blood stream and resistance to complement activation.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Are the genomes of motileMicrobial genomics · 2026Article
- Recombinant TadZ from the type IVc pilus system induces protective immunity against virulentFrontiers in immunology · 2026Article
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- Strain-specific variation in the complement resistome ofInfection and immunity · 2025Article
- Tad pili with adaptable tips mediate contact-dependent killing during bacterial predation.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Parasalinivibrio latis gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from the distal gut of healthy farmed Asian Seabass (Lates calcarifer).Antonie van Leeuwenhoek · 2024Article
- Bidirectional pilus processing in the Tad pilus system motor CpaF.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Effect of capsular polysaccharide phase variation on biofilm formation, motility and gene expression in Vibrio vulnificus.Gut pathogens · 2024Article
- Article
- Genetic Insights into Biofilm Formation by a Pathogenic Strain ofMicroorganisms · 2024Article
- Tad pili contribute to the virulence and biofilm formation of virulentFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2024Article
- Identification ofAntibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Assembly mechanism of a Tad secretion system secretin-pilotin complex.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Environmental Reservoirs of Pathogenic Vibrio spp. and Their Role in Disease: The List Keeps Expanding.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2023Review
- Bacterial growth in multicellular aggregates leads to the emergence of complex life cycles.Current biology : CB · 2022Article
- Article
- Comparative Genomic Analysis ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Population genomics of the food-borne pathogenMicrobial genomics · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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Abstract
The tad operons encode the machinery required for adhesive Flp (fimbrial low-molecular-weight protein) pili biogenesis. Vibrio vulnificus, an opportunistic pathogen, harbors three distinct tad loci. Among them, only tad1 locus was highly upregulated in in vivo growing bacteria compared to in vitro culture condition. To understand the pathogenic roles of the three tad loci during infection, we constructed single, double and triple tad loci deletion mutants. Interestingly, only the Δtad123 triple mutant cells exhibited significantly decreased lethality in mice. Ultrastructural observations revealed short, thin filamentous projections disappeared on the Δtad123 mutant cells. Since the pilin was paradoxically non-immunogenic, a V5 tag was fused to Flp to visualize the pilin protein by using immunogold EM and immunofluorescence microscopy. The Δtad123 mutant cells showed attenuated host cell adhesion, decreased biofilm formation, delayed RtxA1 exotoxin secretion and subsequently impaired translocation across the intestinal epithelium compared to wild type, which could be partially complemented with each wild type operon. The Δtad123 mutant was susceptible to complement-mediated bacteriolysis, predominantly via the alternative pathway, suggesting stealth hiding role of the Tad pili. Complement depletion by treating with anti-C5 antibody rescued the viable count of Δtad123 in infected mouse bloodstream to the level comparable to wild type strain. Taken together, all three tad loci cooperate to confer successful invasion of V. vulnificus into deeper tissue and evasion from host defense mechanisms, ultimately resulting in septicemia.
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