In Gram-negative bacteria, the cell surface is a complex mixture of carbohydrates, lipopolysaccharides, lipids and proteins. The bacterial cell surface serves two central purposes: protection from and interaction with the environment. Bacterial infections can manifest themselves in very different forms, from mild skin irritation to diarrhea, from fever to the formation of tumors. Nevertheless, different infections by different microbes follow similar patterns: adhesion to host cells is followed by complex interactions that involve secretion of effector proteins (e.g. toxins) into host cells and induction of signaling processes by the host cells. We are interested in the onset of infection, which is mostly determined by the ability of the pathogen to adhere to host cells; we study protein and carbohydrate adhesins. How are these adhesins synthesized and exported to the cell surface? How is the synthesis regulated? What are the host cell binding partners of different adhesins? Pathogens protect themselves from the environment by capsule and biofilm formation, by binding and inactivation of components of the host immune system or by variable expression of surface molecules to evade detection.
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