Enhanced biofilm formation and loss of capsule synthesis: deletion of a putative glycosyltransferase in Porphyromonas gingivalis.

ABSTRACT: Periodontitis is a biofilm-mediated disease. Porphyromonas gingivalis is an obligate anaerobe consistently associated with severe manifestations of this disease. As an opportunistic pathogen, the ability to proliferate within and disseminate from subgingival biofilm (plaque) is central to its virulence. Here, we report the isolation of a P. gingivalis transposon insertion mutant altered in biofilm development and the reconstruction and characterization of this mutation in three different wild-type strains. The mutation responsible for the altered biofilm phenotype was in a gene with high sequence similarity ( approximately 61%) to a glycosyltransferase gene. The gene is located in a region of the chromosome that includes up to 16 genes predicted to be involved in the synthesis and transpor

SUBMITTER: Davey ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1540017 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature