Worlds Apart – Transcriptome Profiles of Key Oral Microbes in the Periodontal Pocket Compared to Single Laboratory Culture Reflect Synergistic Interactions
Zhi-Luo Deng, Helena Sztajer, Michael Jarek, Sabin Bhuju, Irene Wagner-Döbler
Abstract
Periodontitis is a worldwide prevalent oral disease which results from dysbiosis of the periodontal microbiome. Some of the most active microbial players, e.g.,Porphyromonas gingivalis, Treponema denticola, andFusobacterium nucleatum, have extensively been studied in the laboratory, but it is unclear to which extend these findings can be transferred toin vivoconditions. Here we show that the transcriptional profiles ofP. gingivalis, T. denticola, andF. nucleatumin the periodontal niche are distinct from those in single laboratory culture and exhibit functional similarities. GO (gene ontology) term enrichment analysis showed up-regulation of transporters, pathogenicity related traits and hemin/heme uptake mechanisms for all three speciesin vivo. Differential gene expression analysis revealed that cysteine proteases, transporters and hemin/heme-binding proteins were highly up-regulated in the periodontal niche, while genes involved in DNA modification were down-regulated. The data suggest strong interactions between those three species regarding protein degradation, iron up-take, and mobilityin vivo, explaining their enhanced synergistic pathogenicity. We discovered a strikingly high frequency of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs)in vivo. ForF. nucleatumwe discovered a total of 127,729 SNPs in periodontal niche transcripts, which were found in similar frequency in health and disease and covered the entire genome, suggesting continuous evolution in the host. We conclude that metabolic interactions shape gene expressionin vivo.Great caution is required when inferring pathogenicity of microbes from laboratory data, and microdiversity is an important adaptive trait of natural communities.
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