Construction and characterization of arginine-specific cysteine proteinase (Arg-gingipain)-deficient mutants of Porphyromonas gingivalis. Evidence for significant contribution of Arg-gingipain to virulence.

Abstract excerpt

Arginine-specific cysteine proteinase (Arg-gingipain; formerly, argingipain) is one of the major extracellular proteinases produced by the oral anaerobic bacterium Porphyromonas gingivalis. To determine whether Arg-gingipain is important for periodontopathogenicity of the organism, Arg-gingipain-deficient mutants were constructed via gene disruption by use of suicide plasmid systems. First, Southern hybridization...

Topics

• Adhesins, Bacterial
• Adult
• Amino Acid Sequence
• Bacteroidaceae Infections
• Base Sequence
• Coumarins
• Cysteine Endopeptidases
• DNA Probes
• DNA, Bacterial
• Genes, Bacterial