Fibronectin and laminin binding of urogenital and oral Prevotella species

88 strains of five Prevotella species - P. bir,ia, P. buccae, P. disiens, P . oralis, and P. oris were examined for their fibronectin and laminin bindi ng properties with the aid of latex particle agglutination assays. Beside s ingle protein binding activities, all species showed strains that adhered t o both fibronectin and laminin. The oral species, P. buccae, P.oralis, and P. oris were found to interact with laminin to a pronouncedly higher extent than with fibronectin. The urogenital species, P. bivia and P. disiens sho wed comparable activities of binding to fibronectin and laminin, with P. bi via exhibiting higher matrix protein binding rates than P. disiens. Within the oral species group, P. oralis showed a higher percentage of fibronectin and laminin reactive strains than did P. buccae and P.oris. The finding of species-related different binding properties may throw some light on the k nown differences in clinical relevance and pathogenicity of the urogenital species, P. bivia and P. disiens, but does so only in part concerning the o ral species, P. buccae, P. oralis, and P.oris. Moreover, the observed diffe rences in matrix protein binding of Prevotella species may have implication s in chemotaxis and opsonization on the one hand and maintenance of coloniz ation activities under antibiotic therapy on the other.