Pili in Probiotic Bacteria

The ability to adhere to intestinal epithelial tissue and mucosal surfaces is a key criterion in selecting probiotics. Adhesion is considered to be a prerequisite for successful colonization and survival in the gastrointestinal tract to provide persistent beneficial effects to the host. Bacteria express a multitude of surface components that mediate adherence. Pili or fimbriae are surface adhesive components implicated in initiating bacterial adhesion and mediating interaction with the host. These nonflagellar proteina‐ ceous fiber appendages were identified and explored over several decades in pathogen‐ ic bacteria, and many distinct types are known. However, the presence of pili in probiotics and/or commensalic bacteria has only recently been recognized. Thus knowledge about pili in probiotics is relatively limited, but structural and functional data have begun to emerge. Availability of these data in the future would enable us to understand the pilimediated adhesion strategies of probiotics. This knowledge could be utilized to develop antiadhesion-based therapies against bacterial infections as well as probiotic designs for beneficial effects. This chapter will briefly summarize the current knowledge of pili in probiotics with emphasis on members of lactobacilli and bifidobacteria.