A Porphyromonas gingivalis hypothetical protein controlled by the type I-C CRISPR-Cas system is a novel adhesin important in virulence.

The present study demonstrates that the hypothetical protein PGN_1547 form Porphyromonas gingivalis acts as an essential virulence factor, as shown in a Galleria mellonella model for virulence. Moreover, we demonstrated that PGN_1547 is an adhesin essential in adhesion to THP-1 cells. We propose that PGN_1547 may be an essential virulence factor in P. gingivalis.

本研究证实，源自牙龈卟啉单胞菌（Porphyromonas gingivalis）的假设蛋白（hypothetical protein）PGN_1547属于关键毒力因子，该结论通过大蜡螟（Galleria mellonella）毒力模型得到验证。此外，本研究还证明PGN_1547是一种黏附素（adhesin），其对THP-1细胞的黏附过程不可或缺。我们据此提出，PGN_1547或许是牙龈卟啉单胞菌（P. gingivalis）的关键毒力因子。