Effects of an alanine substitution at residue 68 on expression of the pilin PC epitope. Lanes: 1, MW25 (pilEind, iga::pilE); 2, MV25V (pilEind, iga::pilE, pilVfs); 3, GE108 (pilEind, iga::pilES68A); and 4, GE108V (pilEind, iga::pilES68A, pilVfs). (A) Coomassie-stained SDS/PAGE gel of whole-cell lysates showing the relative migration of PilE. (B) Immunoblotting of whole-cell lysates by using monoclonal antibody TEPC-15. (C) Coomassie-stained SDS/PAGE gel showing the relative amounts of PilE in purified pili. (D) Immunoblotting of purified pili by using monoclonal antibody TEPC-15. With regard to PilV expression, + denotes the wild-type allele and - denotes the pilVfs-null allele.