adhesinn.
/ədˈhiːsɪn/, /adˈhiːsɪn/, U.S. /ædˈhis(ə)n/, /ədˈhis(ə)n/ Microbiology.
A fimbria or other structure on the surface of a bacterium which facilitates its attachment to other cells or to a substrate.
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adhesin1959
1959 J. P. Duguid in Jrnl. Gen. Microbiol. 21 272 The responsible agent is therefore termed the mannose-sensitive (MS) fimbrial haemagglutinin or adhesin. The alternative name ‘adhesin’ is introduced because the fimbriae adhere to many substrates other than red cells.
1989 Microbial Pathogenesis 7 373 Adhesins such as the filamentous hemagglutinin..and the pertussis toxin..are considered as major determinants of pathogenesis and efficient immunogens.
2000 A. Karlen Biogr. of Germ (2001) xv. 100 Neurons, intestinal lining and other cells have distinctive shapes and surfaces; germs attach to them with help from surface proteins called adhesins, which match up with host cells' molecular docking ports.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1959