Intergeneric communication in dental plaque biofilms - PubMed (original) (raw)

Intergeneric communication in dental plaque biofilms

H Xie et al. J Bacteriol. 2000 Dec.

Abstract

Dental plaque is a complex biofilm that accretes in a series of discrete steps proceeding from a gram-positive streptococcus-rich biofilm to a structure rich in gram-negative anaerobes. This study investigated information flow between two unrelated plaque bacteria, Streptococcus cristatus and Porphyromonas gingivalis. A surface protein of S. cristatus caused repression of the P. gingivalis fimbrial gene (fimA), as determined by a chromosomal fimA promoter-lacZ reporter construct and by reverse transcription-PCR. Signaling activity was associated with a 59-kDa surface protein of S. cristatus and showed specificity for the fimA gene. Furthermore, P. gingivalis was unable to form biofilm microcolonies with S. cristatus. Thus, S. cristatus is capable of modulating virulence gene expression in P. gingivalis, consequently influencing the development of pathogenic plaque.

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Figures

FIG. 1

FIG. 1

Effect of CC5A extract on fimA transcriptional activity. P. gingivalis UPF containing a fimA-lacZ promoter-reporter fusion was cultured with the CC5A extract noted. lacZ activity was determined as previously described (10), and the values obtained with PBS were set to 100%. Error bars represent standard deviations (n = 3).

FIG. 2

FIG. 2

Confocal image of S. cristatus CC5A (a) or S. gordonii G9B (b) reacted with P. gingivalis 33277 in a flow chamber. Streptococcal cells are red, P. gingivalis are green, and colocalized bacteria are yellow.

References

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