Enteroaggregative strains of Escherichia coli, belonging to serotypes O44:H18 and O126:H27, were used to show that magnesium ions were essential for the adhesion of these enteroaggregative strains to HEp-2 cells. The removal of Mg2+ ions from culture media was correlated with the inability of strains to produce an outer membrane-associated protein of 18 kDa and a pellicle. It was concluded that magnesium ions were directly involved with the expression of an 18 kDa outer membrane-associated protein by strains of E. coli O126:H27 and O44:H18, and that the outer membrane-associated protein was involved in both HEp-2 adhesion and pellicle formation.
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Chart et al. (2006) studied this question.
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