FIGURE 2.
Importance of N-glycosylation for C. jejuni. Disruption of the bacterial N-glycosylation pathway leads to reduced intestinal epithelial cell adherence and invasion in vitro and reduced colonization of mice and chickens in vivo. The N-glycans at the nonreducing end are also recognized by both adaptive (i.e. antibodies) and innate (i.e. MGL receptors on dendritic cells) immune mechanisms. Although removal of the N-glycan does not influence the biological activity of several proteins, the N-glycans are important for the function of the type IV secretion system and for the CmeABC multidrug efflux pump. Graphics were done by Thuan Nguyen.