Adhesion of Escherichia Coli to Nanostructured Surfaces and the Role of Type 1 Fimbriae -

In this study a method of producing a large number of identical nanostructured surfaces is presented. E. coli wild type and deletion mutants of the type 1 fimbriae monomers FimA or FimH were tested for their ability to adhere to such surfaces with different interpillar distance of 100, 250, and 500 nm, respectively. An increase in interpillar distance (reduced surface coverage) was associated with reduced adhesion of E. coli wild type and the deletion mutants. In addition, the presence of a functional type 1 fimbria decreased adhesion to the nanopatterned surfaces in comparison to deletion mutants, leading us to the conclusion that there is a relationship between presence of a functional fimbriae and adhesion towards tested surfaces. The hypothesis that the presence of fimbriae had an effect on bacterial attachment to nanostructured surfaces was verified. These current results could provide insight into development of new nano-patterned structures with anti-adhesion bacterial properties.