<i>Vibrio cholerae</i> hemagglutinin/lectin/protease hydrolyzes fibronectin and ovomucin: F. M. Burnet revisited

Abstract

Cholera vibrios produce a single polymeric protein that (i) causes hemagglutination; (ii) appears to participate in their attachment to gut epithelium; (iii) may mediate their detachment from gut epithelium; and (iv) is a protease that hydrolyzes fibronectin and mucin, cleaves lactoferrin, and nicks the A subunit of the choleragen-related heat-labile enterotoxin of Escherichia coli.