Neisseria gonorrhoeae (N. gonorrhoeae, gonococci, or GC), the etiologic agent of gonorrhea, is a human-obligate bacterial pathogen. The GC surface contains pili that mediate the adherence to host cells. Studies have shown that GC pili, coded by pilin genes, undergo remarkable changes during human experimental gonorrhea, possibly generated by DNA phase variation during infection. The question that arises is whether the changes in pilins can alter the adherence capacity of N. gonorrhoeae to host cells. In this study, six variants initially isolated from male volunteers infected with one single clone of GC were examined for their adherence patterns with human Chang conjunctiva cells. In this study, we showed that the variants showed distinct adherence patterns to this cell line under light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Moreover, two reisolates showed higher adherence capacities than that of the input strain. The results provide an additional example as to how the pilus variation may play a role in the pathogenesis of N. gonorrhoeae.

中文翻译：

---

实验性淋病分离出淋病奈瑟菌的宿主粘附的不同模式

淋病的病原体淋病奈瑟氏球菌（淋病奈瑟氏球菌，淋球菌或GC）是一种人类专性的细菌病原体。GC表面包含菌毛，该菌毛介导对宿主细胞的粘附。研究表明，由菌毛蛋白基因编码的GC菌毛在人实验淋病期间会发生显着变化，可能是由感染过程中DNA相变产生的。出现的问题是菌毛素的变化是否会改变淋病奈瑟菌的粘附能力宿主细胞。在这项研究中，检查了最初从感染单个GC克隆的男性志愿者中分离出的6种变异体与人类Chang结膜细胞的粘附模式。在这项研究中，我们表明，在光学显微镜和扫描电子显微镜下，变异体对该细胞系表现出不同的粘附模式。而且，两个再分离株显示出比输入菌株更高的粘附能力。结果为菌毛变异如何在淋病奈瑟菌的发病机理中发挥作用提供了另一个实例。