Expression of saliva-binding epitopes of the Porphyromonas gingivalis FimAprotein on the surface of Streptococcus gordonii

Porphyromonas gingivalis, a gram-negative oral anaerobic bacterium, has bee n implicated in the onset and development of periodontitis. The P. gingival is fimbriae which mediate bacterial adherence to host oral sites and induce host inflammatory responses have been suggested as a potential antigen can didate. for vaccine development. This study was undertaken to generate Stre ptococcus gordonii vectors expressing the major subunit protein (FimA) of P , gingivalis fimbriae for testing as a potential lire vaccine against-perio dontitis. We report here the expression of the C-terminal saliva-binding ep itopes of P. gingivalis FimA on the surface of S, gordonii and demonstrate that domains containing free cysteine residues are poorly expressed on the surface of S, gordonii, (C) 1999 Academic Press.