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Infection and Immunity, April 2000, p. 1980-1987, Vol. 68, No. 4
Department of Biologic and Materials
Sciences1 and Department of Oral
Medicine, Pathology, and Oncology,2 School
of Dentistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1078
Received 13 October 1999/Returned for modification 12 November
1999/Accepted 14 December 1999
Porphyromonas gingivalis is implicated in the etiology
of periodontal disease. Associations between microbial virulence and stress protein expression have been identified in other infections. For
example, Hsp90 homologues in several microbial species have been shown
to contribute to virulence. We previously reported that P. gingivalis possessed an Hsp90 homologue (HtpG) which cross-reacts with human Hsp90. In addition, we found that elevated levels of serum
antibody to Hsp90 stress protein in individuals colonized with this
microorganism were associated with periodontal health. However, the
role of HtpG in P. gingivalis has not been explored. Therefore, we cloned the htpG gene and investigated the
characteristics of HtpG localization and expression in P. gingivalis. htpG exists as a single gene of 2,052 bp
from which a single message encoding a mature protein of approximately
68 kDa is transcribed. Western blot analysis revealed that the 68-kDa
polypeptide was stress inducible and that a major band at 44 kDa and a
minor band at 40 kDa were present at constitutive levels. Cellular
localization studies revealed that the 44- and 40-kDa species were
associated with membrane and vesicle fractions, while the 68-kDa
polypeptide was localized to the cytosolic fractions.
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Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Characterization of Heat-Inducible Expression and Cloning of HtpG
(Hsp90 Homologue) of Porphyromonas gingivalis
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Biologic and Materials Sciences, School of Dentistry, University of
Michigan, 1011 North University Ave., Campus Box 1078, Ann Arbor, MI
48109-1078. Phone: (734) 647-3912. Fax: (734) 764-2425. E-mail:
lopatin{at}umich.edu.
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