However, when gingival fibroblasts were challenged with MOI Wortmannin price 10.000 bacteria all three tested genes showed a eFT-508 chemical structure significantly higher induction in the cells challenged with the epsC mutant than with W83 (figure 5). When fibroblasts were challenged with the complemented mutant the response was almost completely restored to wild-type levels (see Additional file 2). Sedimentation of the epsC mutant in comparison to W83 was analyzed

in the same buffer as used in the infection experiments. No significant sedimentation differences were found between W83 and the epsC mutant within the 6 hours needed for infection of the fibroblasts (data not shown). Since infections were done with viable P. gingivalis, survival of the bacteria during the 6-hour aerobic period of infection in DMEM medium had to be ensured. Therefore a 6-hour survival experiment was performed in the 24-well plates used for the fibroblast challenge.

On average 60-75% of W83, epsC mutant and complemented mutant cells survived for 6 hours in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s Medium (DMEM; Sigma Chemical Co.) supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum (FCS) selleck (see Additional file 3). Discussion The aim of this paper was to understand the role of P. gingivalis CPS in the response of human gingival fibroblasts.P. gingivalis CPS has been regarded as an important virulence factor. It has been shown to induce inflammatory mediators in in vitro studies [11]. Celecoxib The capsule also plays an important role in shielding of immune response inducers in several bacterial species [25–27]. Since a distinct CPS biosynthesis locus in P. gingivalis has been described and shown to be functional [18, 19], studying the role of P. gingivalis CPS in the immune response by use of a mutant became feasible. For this purpose an insertional isogenic knockout in epsC, a potential capsular biosynthesis gene within the CPS biosynthesis locus present in strains of different serotypes, was constructed

to prevent capsule synthesis. The homologue of this gene in Listeria monocytogenes lmo2537 has been shown to be essential for survival, and has been suggested to be involved in the maintenance of cell shape by providing a precursor of the teichoic acid linkage unit that serves as an acceptor for the main teichoic acid chain assembly [28]. Construction of the P. gingivalis epsC mutant shows that the epsC gene is not essential for P. gingivalis viability. In the present study the mutant is shown to be non-encapsulated by double immuno-diffusion, density gradient centrifugation and India ink staining. Complementation resulted in rescue of wild-type K1 capsule biosynthesis. Although the exact role of epsC remains to be elucidated, this finding provides evidence that EpsC is essential in P. gingivalis CPS biosynthesis.