Questions on E.coli binding?

Question

Does anything else binds together the same way as how E.coli binds to our urinary tract? If possible, please provide infomation on how e.coli binds to our urinary tract.

Answer 1

Uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) uses pili, small extracellular hair-like structures to bind to urinary tract epithelial cells.  Pili are found in many species of bacteria and are often used to bind to host cells.  Neisseria gonorrhoeae is  a good example of a bacterium that requires pili for host colonization. Read the attached document for more information on N. gonorrhoeae.

Answer 2

The human bowel is usually colonized within 40 hours of birth. E. coli can adhere to the mucus overlying the large intestine. Once established, an E. coli strain may persist for months or years. Resident strains shift over a long period (weeks to months), and more rapidly after enteric infection or antimicrobial chemotherapy that perturbs the normal flora.

Wild-type E. coli has no growth factor requirements, and metabolically it can transform glucose into all of the macromolecular components that make up the cell. The bacterium can grow in the presence or absence of O2. Under anaerobic conditions it will grow by means of fermentation, producing characteristic "mixed acids and gas" as end products. However, it can also grow by means of anaerobic respiration, since it is able to utilize NO3, NO2 or fumarate as final electron acceptors for respiratory electron transport processes. In part, this adapts E. coli to its intestinal (anaerobic) and its extraintestinal (aerobic or anaerobic) habitats.

Uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) cause 90% of the urinary tract infections (UTI) in anatomically-normal, unobstructed urinary tracts. The bacteria colonize from the f***s or perineal region and ascend the urinary tract to the bladder. Bladder infections are 14-times more common in females than males by virtue of the shortened urethra. The typical patient with uncomplicated cystitis is a sexually-active female who was first colonized in the intestine with a uropathogenic E. coli strain. The organisms are propelled into the bladder from the periurethral region during sexual intercourse. With the aid of specific adhesins they are able to colonize the bladder.

some other microbes which are attach to our intestine are  Salmonella, Shigella, Yersinia, Enterobacter, Klebsiella.