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Journal of Bacteriology, November 2009, p. 6804-6811, Vol. 191, No. 22
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01006-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Mutualistic Biofilm Communities Develop with Porphyromonas gingivalis and Initial, Early, and Late Colonizers of Enamel{triangledown}

Saravanan Periasamy and Paul E. Kolenbrander*

Oral Infection and Immunity Branch, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892

Received 29 July 2009/ Accepted 31 August 2009

Porphyromonas gingivalis is present in dental plaque as early as 4 h after tooth cleaning, but it is also associated with periodontal disease, a late-developing event in the microbial successions that characterize daily plaque development. We report here that P. gingivalis ATCC 33277 is remarkable in its ability to interact with a variety of initial, early, middle, and late colonizers growing solely on saliva. Integration of P. gingivalis into multispecies communities was investigated by using two in vitro biofilm models. In flow cells, bacterial growth was quantified using fluorescently conjugated antibodies against each species, and static biofilm growth on saliva-submerged polystyrene pegs was analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR using species-specific primers. P. gingivalis could not grow as a single species or together with initial colonizer Streptococcus oralis but showed mutualistic growth when paired with two other initial colonizers, Streptococcus gordonii and Actinomyces oris, as well as with Veillonella sp. (early colonizer), Fusobacterium nucleatum (middle colonizer), and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (late colonizer). In three-species flow cells, P. gingivalis grew with Veillonella sp. and A. actinomycetemcomitans but not with S. oralis and A. actinomycetemcomitans. Also, it grew with Veillonella sp. and F. nucleatum but not with S. oralis and F. nucleatum, indicating that P. gingivalis and S. oralis are not compatible. However, P. gingivalis grew in combination with S. gordonii and S. oralis, demonstrating its ability to overcome the incompatibility when cultured with a second initially colonizing species. Collectively, these data help explain the observed presence of P. gingivalis at all stages of dental plaque development.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: National Institutes of Health/NIDCR, Building 30, Room 310, 30 Convent Drive, MSC 4350, Bethesda, MD 20892-4350. Phone: (301) 496-1497. Fax: (301) 402-0396. E-mail: pkolenbrander{at}dir.nidcr.nih.gov

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 11 September 2009.

Journal of Bacteriology, November 2009, p. 6804-6811, Vol. 191, No. 22
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01006-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Gutner, M., Chaushu, S., Balter, D., Bachrach, G. (2009). Saliva Enables the Antimicrobial Activity of LL-37 in the Presence of Proteases of Porphyromonas gingivalis. Infect. Immun. 77: 5558-5563 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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