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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Jul 6.
Published in final edited form as: Prog Mol Biol Transl Sci. 2020 Apr 9;171:131–193. doi: 10.1016/bs.pmbts.2020.02.004

Fig. 1.

Fig. 1

F. nucleatum’s putative role as an ecosystem engineer. (A) Normal state without the presence of F. nucleatum. ECM: extracellular matrix. (B) The presence of rod shaped F. nucleatum releases FadA which triggers a signaling cascade in colorectal epithelial cells leading to proliferation.152,154 Fap2 binds to sugar residues on colorectal epithelial cells which leads to co-aggregation and increased recruitment of F. nucleatum thus modifying the tumor microenvironment and behaving as an ecosystem engineer.163