Curated directory of authoritative resources for researchers studying bacterial adhesion proteins, adhesins, biofilm formation, and anti-adhesion therapeutic strategies. Covers structural biology, genomics, and infectious disease aspects of microbial adhesion.
Databases & Structural Resources
RCSB Protein Data Bank (PDB) — The world's repository for 3D structural data of biological macromolecules, including hundreds of deposited adhesin structures. Search for "adhesin," "fimbrin," "FimH," "intimin," or "MSCRAMM" to find crystal structures and cryo-EM reconstructions of bacterial surface proteins. Essential for structure-guided analysis of binding pocket geometry and receptor contact residues.
NCBI Protein Database — Comprehensive protein sequence database maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Search for adhesin sequences by gene name, protein family, or organism. The conserved domain database (CDD) annotations identify fimbrillin domains, MSCRAMM repeats, and other adhesin-associated structural domains automatically.
Pfam Protein Family Database — Pfam contains annotated protein family profiles including all major adhesin superfamilies: PF00419 (fimbrial protein N-terminal domain), PF00502 (MSCRAMM IgG-like domains), PF03459 (VCBS domain found in many Gram-negative adhesins). Useful for identifying adhesin-related domains in newly sequenced bacterial genomes.
PubMLST (Multi-Locus Sequence Typing) — Population-level genomic databases for bacterial pathogens including E. coli, N. gonorrhoeae, and S. pneumoniae. Useful for analyzing adhesin gene allelic variation across clinical isolate collections and correlating adhesin genotype with clinical phenotype.
Research Literature & Reviews
PubMed (National Library of Medicine) — The primary biomedical literature database with over 35 million citations. Search "bacterial adhesin" (MeSH term: "Adhesins, Bacterial") to find the adhesin literature, or use specific adhesin names like "FimH," "intimin," "curli," or "BabA" to find targeted research. Filter by review articles to find comprehensive surveys of specific adhesin systems.
Microbiology (Microbiology Society) — An important journal for primary research on bacterial adhesion. Covers adhesin gene regulation, biofilm formation mechanisms, and adhesin evolution across pathogenic and environmental bacteria. Many articles are open access.
Adhesin Overview (Wikipedia) — A well-sourced introduction to bacterial adhesins covering classification by mechanism, examples across pathogen types, and their role in disease. Useful as a starting point for understanding the diversity of adhesin structural families before entering the primary literature.
Pathogen-Specific Resources
E. coli Mutant Database — Comprehensive database of E. coli gene knockout phenotypes, including fimbrial and adhesin gene mutants with linked publications. Essential for understanding the virulence contribution of individual adhesin genes in UPEC and EPEC pathogenesis models.
PATRIC Bacterial Bioinformatics Resource — PATRIC (now BV-BRC) provides comparative genomics tools for bacterial pathogens, including BLAST search, protein family annotation, and genome-wide adhesin gene identification across thousands of sequenced genomes. Useful for comparative adhesin evolution studies.
CDC Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Hub — Understanding how bacterial adhesins contribute to the establishment of resistant infections is clinically critical. The CDC AMR hub provides surveillance data on resistant pathogens — many of which use adhesin-mediated biofilm formation as a resistance mechanism.
On-Site Resources
Adhesins Research Blog — Regular updates on new adhesin structural studies, anti-adhesion drug development news, and key publications in microbial pathogenesis research.
Adhesins Glossary — Definitions for key terms including fimbriae, pili, chaperone-usher pathway, MSCRAMM, autotransporter, catch-bond, and other adhesin biology concepts.
Research FAQ — Answers to frequently asked questions about adhesin research techniques, model systems, and database resources.
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