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Porphyromonas gingivalis Genes Involved in Community Development with Streptococcus gordonii

M. Regina Simionato,^1,2, Chelsea M. Tucker,^1, Masae Kuboniwa,^1,3 Gwyneth Lamont,¹ Donald R. Demuth,⁴ Gena D. Tribble,^1* and Richard J. Lamont¹

Department of Oral Biology, College of Dentistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32610,¹ Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil,² Department of Preventive Dentistry, Graduate School of Dentistry, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan,³ Department of Periodontology and Dental Hygiene, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40292⁴

Received 20 April 2006/ Returned for modification 26 July 2006/ Accepted 14 August 2006

Porphyromonas gingivalis, one of the causative agents of adult periodontitis, develops biofilm microcolonies on substrata of Streptococcus gordonii but not on Streptococcus mutans. P. gingivalis genome microarrays were used to identify genes differentially regulated during accretion of P. gingivalis in heterotypic biofilms with S. gordonii. Thirty-three genes showed up- or downregulation by array analysis, and differential expression was confirmed by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR. The functions of the regulated genes were predominantly related to metabolism and energy production. In addition, many of the genes have no current known function. The roles of two upregulated genes, ftsH (PG0047) encoding an ATP-dependent zinc metallopeptidase and ptpA (PG1641) encoding a putative tyrosine phosphatase, were investigated further by mutational analysis. Strains with mutations in these genes developed more abundant biofilms with S. gordonii than the parental strain developed. ftsH and ptpA may thus participate in a regulatory network that constrains P. gingivalis accumulation in heterotypic biofilms. This study provided a global analysis of P. gingivalis transcriptional responses in an oral microbial community and also provided insight into the regulation of heterotypic biofilm development.

Published ahead of print on 21 August 2006.

Editor: V. J. DiRita

M.R.S. and C.M.T. contributed equally to this paper.

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