PMC

UTIs can present clinically in a variety of ways, most often reflecting cystitis (infection of the bladder) or pyelonephritis (infection of the kidney). Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is the most common cause of UTI (especially among community-onset infections), among other pathogens. Selected virulence factors associated with the pathogenesis of UPEC cystitis or pyelonephritis are shown and include adhesins, siderophores, toxins, siderophores, capsule, and other systems (see text for details). UT: urinary tract.

The periplasmic chaperone FimC (green) delivers structural subunits to the outer membrane usher (FimD, red) for assembly. Subunits shown represent the pilus tip structure and include the adhesin FimH (purple) and adapters FimG (yellow, within the barrel of FimD) and FimF (gray). Each subunit has its immunoglobulin-like fold completed by a strand provided by the next subunit, in a process called donor-strand complementation (DSC). The energetic favorability provided by this final structure drives assembly on the periplasmic side of the usher, as the periplasm is devoid of ATP. Protein Database PDB# 4J3O; adapted from [].