Introduction. Most indigenous and pathogenic bacteria initiate colonization on a mucosal surface. Yet, relatively little is known about this process. One of the reasons for this lack of information is that the majority of human pathogens display sharp host and tissue tropisms; they do not colonize the mucosal surfaces of labo- ratory animals when administered by natural routes. Conse- quently, they have been mainly studied in intravenous or intraperitoneal models which iss their natural mode of col- may serve as a ful mode! for the discovery of basic prin- ciples which are applicable to a variety of infectious diseases. It is appropriate to point out that the bulk of the microbial biomass on planet Earth grows attached to a surface. Thus, the majority of bacteria in fresh-water streams, in marine en- vironments, and in the soil colonize in the form of adhesive biofilms (Parl, 1980; Marshall, 1980). Bacteria also colonize: and animals are heavily populat esive masses of teria (Savage, 1980). However, despite the prevalence of bac- terial surface colonization in many natural environments, it has only been in recent years that the significance of this process and the mechanisms involved have begun to be understood. Researchers studying the etiology of dental caries and var- ious forms of periodontal diseases have long recognized that these diseases are infections caused by bacterial plaque accu- mulations on the teeth. Efforts to understand the mechanisms involved in the formation of such dental plaques revealed that bacterial attachment to tissue surfaces is a remarkably specific process, and attachment is often the first step required for colonization of a host tissue (reviewed by Gibbons and van Houte, 1975, 1980; Gibbons, 1980, 1984).