Revealing the role of fimbriae in bacterial cell surface interactions using atomic force microscopy nanomechanical measurements

摘要

Our results indicate that the type 3 fimbriae of K. pneumoniae bacteria affect the order/disorder of the capsular polysaccharides. This has important implications in bacterial cell adhesion, since the more ordered and so less fluid the capsular polysaccharides, the less able they are to form strong points of adhesion to a substrate.