Analysis of the formation and the involvement in the ability to colonize hosts of the pilus encoded by the srtG cluster of Streptococcus suis

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Streptococcus suis is an important bacterium which can cause severe disease in pigs and humans. Despite increasing research in recent years, knowledge of the virulence determinants of S.suis remains limited. In many pathogenic bacteria, pilus structures have been reported to contribute to adherence to the host cells. The present study demonstrated that pilus-like structures extended from the cell surface of the S.suis strain. In addition, our data suggested that this pilus is different in its assembly from the well-known pili of other bacteria and may be important for interaction of S.suis with the surface of host animals or in its environment rather than that within the host animals.