Localization and pathogenic role of the cysteine protease dentipain in Treponema denticola. Localization and pathogenic role of the cysteine protease dentipain in Treponema denticola

Treponema denticola is a major etiological agent of chronic periodontis. Dentipain is one of the virulence factors of this microorganism. The localization and function of the protein has yet to be clarified although it has shown to be involved in the virulence of T. denticola. Therefore, this study aimed to characterize the role of dentipain in T. denticola. To investigate the function of dentipain, dentipain deficient mutant was constructed using an ermFermAM cassette and gene expression profile of the mutant was evaluated by microarray analysis. Growth rate of the dentipain-deficient mutants was smaller than that of the wild-type strain. In the mutant. Thirty-five genes in differentially expressed genes by the microarray analysis annotated as membrane or plasma membrane in gene ontology. Hydrophobicity of the mutant were higher than that of the wild-type strain. These findings suggest that dentipain involved in the surface characteristics and growth of T. denticola. Overall design: Comparison of 2 strains of T. denticola. Treponema denticola ATCC 35405 and YM-3 were cultured in TYGVS medium for 24-48 h. Profile of gene expression of T. denticola YM-3 was compared to that of ATCC 35405.