Medical Definition of Colonisation factors
1.
The pili on enteropathogenic forms of E. Coli facilitate adhesion of the bacteria to receptors (probably GM1 gangliosides) on gut epithelial cells and are often referred to as colonisation or adherence factors.
Colonisation factor antigens may be plasmid coded, are essential for pathogenicity and are strain specific, for example K88 diarrhoea in piglets), CFAI and CFAII on strains causing similar disease in man.
This entry appears with permission from the Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology
(11 Mar 2008)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Colonisation Factors
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