Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli Tir translocation and pedestal formation requires membrane cholesterol in the absence of bundle‐forming pili

Summary Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) is a significant cause of paediatric diarrhoea worldwide. Virulence requires adherence to intestinal epithelial cells, mediated in part through type IV bundle‐forming pili (BFP), and the EPEC protein Tir. Tir is inserted into the enterocyte plasma membrane (PM), resulting in the formation of actin‐rich pedestals. Tir is translocated by the type III secretion system (TTSS), through a pore comprised of EPEC proteins inserted into the PM. Here, we demonstrate that in the absence of BFP, EPEC adherence, effector translocation and pedestal formation are dependent on lipid rafts. Lipid raft disruption using methyl‐β‐cyclodextrin (MβCD) decreased adherence by an EPEC BFP‐deficient strain from 85% to 1%. Translocation of the effectors Tir and EspF was blocked by MβCD treatment, although the TTSS pore still formed. MβCD treatment after Tir delivery decreased pedestal formation by EPEC from 40% to 5%, but not by the related pathogen E. coli O157:H7 which uses a different Tir‐based mechanism. In contrast, EPEC expressing the BFP can circumvent the requirement for membrane cholesterol. This suggests that lipid rafts play a role in virulence of this medically important pathogen.