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Infection and Immunity, January 2001, p. 325-335, Vol. 69, No. 1
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.1.325-335.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

vimA Gene Downstream of recA Is Involved in Virulence Modulation in Porphyromonas gingivalis W83

Hafid Abaibou, Zhuo Chen, G. Jon Olango, Yi Liu, Jessica Edwards, and Hansel M. Fletcher*

Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California 92350

Received 9 February 2000/Returned for modification 15 March 2000/Accepted 18 October 2000

A 0.9-kb open reading frame encoding a unique 32-kDa protein was identified downstream of the recA gene of Porphyromonas gingivalis. Reverse transcription-PCR and Northern blot analysis showed that both the recA gene and this open reading frame are part of the same transcriptional unit. This cloned fragment was insertionally inactivated using the ermF-ermAM antibiotic resistance cassette to create a defective mutant by allelic exchange. When plated on Brucella blood agar, the mutant strain, designated P. gingivalis FLL92, was non-black pigmented and showed significant reduction in beta-hemolysis compared with the parent strain, P. gingivalis W83. Arginine- and lysine-specific cysteine protease activities, which were mostly soluble, were approximately 90% lower than that of the parent strain. Expression of the rgpA, rgpB, and kgp protease genes was the same in P. gingivalis FLL92 as in the wild-type strain. In contrast to the parent strain, P. gingivalis FLL92 showed increased autoaggregration in addition to a significant reduction in hemagglutinating and hemolysin activities. In in vivo experiments using a mouse model, P. gingivalis FLL92 was dramatically less virulent than the parent strain. A molecular survey of this mutant and the parent strain using all known P. gingivalis insertion sequence elements as probes suggested that no intragenomic changes due to the movement of these elements have occurred in P. gingivalis FLL92. Taken together, these results suggest that the recA downstream gene, designated vimA (virulence-modulating gene), plays an important role in virulence modulation in P. gingivalis W83, possibly representing a novel posttranscriptional or translational regulation of virulence factors in P. gingivalis.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA 92350. Phone: (909) 558-4000, ext. 42763, Fax: (909) 558-4035. E-mail: HFLETCHER{at}SOM.LLU.EDU.

Infection and Immunity, January 2001, p. 325-335, Vol. 69, No. 1
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.1.325-335.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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