Although CD14 has been implicated in the immune recognition of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Gram-negative bacteria and also peptidoglycan (PGN) and lipoteichoic acid (LTA) from the outer cell wall of Gram-positive bacteria, accumulating evidence has suggested the possible existence of other functional receptor(s). In this study, we have used fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) in order to get the first dynamic picture of the innate recognition of bacteria. We have found that the diffusion coefficient of CD14 remains unaffected after LPS ligation and that the diffusion coefficients of FITC-LPS and FITC-LTA bound to cells differ from that of CD14. Furthermore, FITC-LPS/LTA rapidly become immobile when bound to cells, suggesting that FITC-LPS/LTA must briefly associate with CD14 in the initial attachment process and rapidly move on to an immobile receptor or to a complex of receptors. Further FRAP experiments revealed that heat shock protein 70 (hsp70) and hsp90 are immobile in cell membranes, and antibodies against them were found to block the transfer of LPS to the immobile receptor and to inhibit interleukin 6 production upon LPS stimulation. These experiments indicated that LPS transfers from CD14 to hsp70 and hsp90, which may be part of an LPS/LTA multimeric receptor complex. Thus, hsps are implicated as mediators of the innate activation by bacteria.