J Periodontal Implant Sci.  2016 Feb;46(1):2-9. 10.5051/jpis.2016.46.1.2.

Surface interactions between two of the main periodontal pathogens: Porphyromonas gingivalis and Tannerella forsythia

Affiliations
  • 1Formerly, Department of Medicine, University of California School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
  • 2Departments of Dental Education and Periodontology, Dental Science Research Institute, Chonnam National University School of Dentistry, Gwangju, Korea. swlee@chonnam.ac.kr

Abstract

PURPOSE
Porphyromonas gingivalis and Tannerella forsythia have been implicated as the major etiologic agents of periodontal disease. These two bacteria are frequently isolated together from the periodontal lesion, and it has been suggested that their interaction may increase each one's virulence potential. The purpose of this study was to identify proteins on the surface of these organisms that are involved in interbacterial binding.
METHODS
Biotin labeling of surface proteins of P. gingivalis and T. forsythia and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis was performed to identify surface proteins involved in the coaggregating activity between P. gingivalis and T. forsythia.
RESULTS
It was found that three major T. forsythia proteins sized 161, 100, and 62 kDa were involved in binding to P. gingivalis, and P. gingivalis proteins sized 35, 32, and 26 kDa were involved in binding to T. forsythia cells.
CONCLUSIONS
LC-MS/MS analysis identified one T. forsythia surface protein (TonB-linked outer membrane protein) involved in interbacterial binding to P. gingivalis. However, the nature of other T. forsythia and P. gingivalis surface proteins identified by biotin labeling could not be determined. Further analysis of these proteins will help elucidate the molecular mechanisms that mediate coaggregation between P. gingivalis and T. forsythia.

Keyword

Bacterial outer membrane proteins; Biotinylation; Periodontitis; Porphyromonas gingivalis; Tannerella forsythia

MeSH Terms

Bacteria
Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins
Biotin
Biotinylation
Forsythia*
Mass Spectrometry
Membrane Proteins
Membranes
Periodontal Diseases
Periodontitis
Porphyromonas gingivalis*
Porphyromonas*
Virulence
Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins
Biotin
Membrane Proteins
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