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OmpA‐like protein influences cell shape and adhesive activity of Tannerella forsythia
Author(s) -
Abe T.,
Murakami Y.,
Nagano K.,
Hasegawa Y.,
Moriguchi K.,
Ohno N.,
Shimozato K.,
Yoshimura F.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
molecular oral microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.18
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 2041-1014
pISSN - 2041-1006
DOI - 10.1111/j.2041-1014.2011.00625.x
Subject(s) - tannerella forsythia , forsythia , mutant , chemistry , escherichia coli , porphyromonas gingivalis , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , biochemistry , bacteria , gene , genetics , medicine , honeysuckle , alternative medicine , pathology , traditional chinese medicine
Summary Tannerella forsythia , a gram‐negative fusiform rod, is implicated in several types of oral anaerobic infections. Most gram‐negative bacteria have OmpA‐like proteins that are homologous to the OmpA protein in Escherichia coli . We identified an OmpA‐like protein in T. forsythia encoded by the tf1331 gene as one of the major proteins by mass spectrometric analysis. Two‐dimensional, diagonal electrophoresis showed that the OmpA‐like protein formed a dimeric or trimeric structure via intermolecular disulfide bonds. A biotin labeling experiment revealed that a portion of the protein was exposed on the cell surface, even though T. forsythia possesses an S‐layer at the outermost cell surface. Using a tf1331 ‐deletion mutant, we showed that the OmpA‐like protein affected cell morphology. The length of the mutant cell was reduced almost by half. Cell swelling was observed in more than 40% of the mutant cells. Moreover, the mutant exhibited decreased adhesion to fibronectin, retarded autoaggregation, and reduced cell surface hydrophobicity. These results suggest that the OmpA‐like protein in T. forsythia plays an important role in cellular integrity and adhesive function.