Enteropathogenic E. coli Infection Mechanism

Part 1: A bacterium latches on
to the surface of an intestinal cell

webpart1.mov
source: Howard Hughes Medical Institute (www.hhmi.org/biointeractive.index.html)

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Credits:
Director: Dennis Liu, Ph.D.
Scientific Direction: B. Brett Finlay, Ph.D.
Scientific Content: Satoshi Amagai, Ph.D.
Animators: Eric Keller, Satoshi Amagai, Ph.D.

The surface of epithelial cells of the intestine is covered with microvilli, finger-shaped extensions of the cell that vastly increase the surface area for absorbing nutrients. In the animation, a single E. coli bacterium (purple) latches on to the surface of an intestinal epithelial cell (brown) using long, tetherlike pili. Pili are made of strands of long protein filaments that can adhere to the microvilli on the surface of intestinal cells.

Once in contact with the bacterium, the microvilli disappear from a patch of the cell surface, the bacterium comes into closer contact with the intestinal cell surface, and the next phase in the infection process begins.

Click here for Part 2