Maturation of fimbria precursor protein by exogenous gingipains in Porphyromonas gingivalis gingipain-null mutant.
Porphyromonas gingivalis expresses several virulence factors such as fimbriae and proteases, termed gingipains, which are enzymes that process precursor fimbriae proteins. Thus, gingipain-null mutants lack mature fimbriae. Membrane vesicle-depleted supernatants (VDS) containing soluble gingipains were prepared as an exogenous gingipain fraction. Precursor proteins were treated with VDS and a fimbriated gingipain-null mutant was successfully generated. Experiments showed that the wild strain adhered to and invaded epithelial cells at a greater level than the fimbriated gingipain-null mutant, while adhesion/invasion was prevented in the presence of fetal calf serum, which inhibits gingipain activity. The findings of this study suggest that gingipains expose cellular cryptic ligands in a proteolytic manner and promote fimbriae binding to epithelial cells.
Kato
Takahiro
T
Department of Oral Frontier Biology, Osaka University Graduate School of Dentistry, Suita-Osaka, Japan.
Tsuda
Tetsuhisa
T
Omori
Hiroko
H
Kato
Takafumi
T
Yoshimori
Tamotsu
T
Amano
Atsuo
A
D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D002460:Cell Line; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000382:microbiology; D036781:Fimbriae Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D010861:Fimbriae, Bacterial / Q000648:ultrastructure; D017353:Gene Deletion; D000080867:Gingipain Cysteine Endopeptidases; D005881:Gingiva / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D016966:Porphyromonas gingivalis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational
D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D000080867:Gingipain Cysteine Endopeptidases; D036781:Fimbriae Proteins; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases