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Contribution of adhesion proteins to Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans biofilm formation
Author(s) -
Danforth David R.,
Melloni Marcella,
Tristano Jake,
Mintz Keith P.
Publication year - 2021
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/omi.12346
Subject(s) - biofilm , microbiology and biotechnology , aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans , fimbria , bacterial adhesin , strain (injury) , escherichia coli , biology , bacteria , tetramethylurea , serotype , gene , chemistry , porphyromonas gingivalis , genetics , biochemistry , anatomy , solvent
Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans is a Gram‐negative bacterium associated with periodontal disease and multiple disseminated extra‐oral infections. Colonization of these distinct physiological niches is contingent on the expression of specific surface proteins during the initiation of developing biofilms. In this investigation, we studied fimbriae and three well‐characterized nonfimbrial surface proteins (EmaA, Aae, and ApiA/Omp100) for their contribution to biofilm formation. Mutations of these proteins in multiple strains covering four different serotypes demonstrated variance in biofilm development that was strain dependent but independent of serotype. In a fimbriated background, only inactivation of emaA impacted biofilm mass. In contrast, inactivation of emaA and/or aae affected biofilm formation in nonfimbriated A. actinomycetemcomitans strains, whereas inactivation of apiA / omp100 had little effect on biofilm formation. When these genes were expressed individually in Escherichia coli , all transformed strains demonstrated an increase in biofilm mass compared to the parent strain. The strain expressing emaA generated the greatest mass of biofilm, whereas the strains expressing either aae or apiA / omp100 were greatly reduced and similar in mass. These data suggest a redundancy in function of these nonfimbrial adhesins, which is dependent on the genetic background of the strain investigated.