title: Transposon-induced pigment-deficient mutants of Porphyromonas gingivalis.
abstract: Trypsin-like protease activity, hemagglutination activity, and accumulation of heme-containing compounds (black pigment) are considered to be virulence factors of Porphyromonas gingivalis. Transposon-mutagenesis was used for the first time to isolate pigment-deficient mutants. These mutants exhibited simultaneous deficiency in trypsin-like protease activity and hemagglutination activity. Two major membrane-associated proteins, observed by SDS-PAGE with the parent strain, were essentially absent from the mutant strains. Immunoblot analysis indicated that these two proteins correspond to putative hemagglutinin and hemagglutinin/protease products of P. gingivalis. Each mutant contained only one transposon insertion, thus the pleiotropic phenotype resulted from single site-specific mutations. The results indicate that trypsin-like protease activity is required for accumulation of protoheme from hemoglobin by P. gingivalis and that genetic and/or physiological linkage exists between trypsin-like protease activity and hemagglutination activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, School of Dentistry, Aichi-Gakuin University, Nagoya, Japan.
authors.forename: C I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Hoover
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yoshimura
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry; D003227:Conjugation, Genetic; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics; D006388:Hemagglutinins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006418:Heme / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D010641:Phenotype; D016966:Porphyromonas gingivalis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D014357:Trypsin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D006388:Hemagglutinins; D006418:Heme; D014357:Trypsin