Porphyromonas gingivalis

Porphyromonas gingivalis belongs to the phylum Bacteroidetes and is a nonmotile, Gram-negative, rod-shaped, anaerobic, pathogenic bacterium. It forms black colonies on blood agar. It is found in the oral cavity, where it is implicated in periodontal disease, as well as in the upper gastrointestinal tract, the respiratory tract and the colon. It has been isolated from women with bacterial vaginosis. Collagen degradation observed in chronic periodontal disease results in part from the collagenase enzymes of this species. It has been shown in an in vitro study that P. gingivalis can invade human gingival fibroblasts and can survive in the presence of antibiotics. P. gingivalis invades gingival epithelial cells in high numbers, in which case both bacteria and epithelial cells survive for extended periods of time. High levels of specific antibodies can be detected in patients harboring P. gingivalis. P. gingivalis infection has been linked to Alzheimer's disease and rheumatoid arthritis. It contains the enzyme peptidyl-arginine deiminase, which is involved in citrullination. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis have increased incidence of periodontal disease; antibodies against the bacterium are significantly more common in these patients. P. gingivalis is divided into K-serotypes based upon capsular antigenicity of the various types. These serotypes have been the drivers of observations regarding bacterial cell to cell interactions to the associated serotype-dependent immune response and risk with pancreatic cancer. The genome of P. gingivalis was described in 2003 revealing 1,990 open reading frames (i.e. protein-coding sequences), encoded by 2,343,479 bp, with an average G+C content of 48.3%. An estimated 463 genes are essential. Arg-gingipain (Rgp) and lys-gingipain (Kgp) are endopeptidase enzymes secreted by P. gingivalis. These gingipains serve many functions for the organism, contributing to its survival and virulence. Arg-gingipains have been found to play a key role in the collection of nutrients for P. gingivalis survival. Rgp degrades large peptides of the host organism to provide the bacterium with an abundant nitrogen and carbon source from human albumin serum. P. gingivalis can also degrade transferrin within host cells which provides the organism with an abundant iron source needed to perform multiple cellular functions.