Carbohydrate specific binding of fibronectin toVibrio choleraecells

Cells of 10 strains of Vibrio cholerae were grown on Trypticase Soy Broth and were tested for different surface porperties such as expression of surface haemagglutinins, cell-surface hydrophobicity and binding to 3 connective tissue proteins: fibronectin, type II collagen and fibrinogen. All strains bound fibronectin and one selected strain was shown to bind in a time-dependent and saturable manner. The binding of 125I-labelled fibronectin could be completely inhibited by unlabelled fibronectin, and also partly by some other glycoproteins. Mannose inhibited binding of fibronectin up to 60%. The data indicate that carbohydrate structures within the 40 kDa (gelatin binding) and 105 kDa (cell binding) fragments of fibronectin are recognized by lectins on V. cholerae. The binding of collagen or fibrinogen was low or negligible.