Tannerella forsythia, a periodontal pathogen entering the genomic era

Uncultivated Tannerella BU045 and BU063 are slim segmented filamentous rods of high prevalence but low abundance in inflammatory disease-associated dental plaques

“…Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that our data on the prevalence and abundance of T. forsythia in the periodontal pocket microbiota are in agreement with earlier results from many different studies (see Tanner & Izard, 2006 for a review). With respect to supragingival plaques from gingivitis and NUG patients, the low abundance of T. forsythia had to be expected based on previous findings with supragingival plaque from different types of study groups (Gmür & Guggenheim, 1994;Paster et al, 2002;Socransky & Haffajee, 2002).…”

“…They are considered to be noncultivable, species-specific, non-pathogenic, and potent activators of the mucosal immune system. However, based on the available 16S rRNA gene sequence data, the Tannerella phylotypes and the SFB belong to quite distinct phylogenetic groups (Snel et al, 1995;Tanner & Izard, 2006) and labelling of any SFB by our FISH probes can be excluded. The length of cells from the uncultivable Single-cell analysis of oral Tannerella populations Tannerella phylotypes was quite variable.…”

“…Among the many uncultivable human oral phylotypes two clones with an apparently supragingival habitat, BU045 and BU063, attracted some interest, because their 16S rRNA gene sequence groups them within the genus Tannerella (Paster et al, 2001;Leys et al, 2002;de Lillo et al, 2004), which otherwise contains, besides some uncultivated clones from soil, only a single species, Tannerella forsythia (also known as Tannerella forsythensis) (Tanner et al, 1986;Tanner & Izard, 2006). T. forsythia is a 'consensus periodontal pathogen ' (Haffajee & Socransky, 2006) and associated with subgingival plaque from chronic and occasionally aggressive periodontitis (see Tanner & Izard, 2006, for review) rather than periodontal health like the two clones BU045 and BU063. Thus, although all three taxa colonize areas of the gums in the human oral cavity, current evidence indicates that they reside in quite distinct environments with markedly different nutrient sources.…”

“…During the last decade hundreds of previously unknown phylotypes and clones have been identified in studies investigating 16S rRNA diversity in different forms of dental plaque (Paster et al, 2001(Paster et al, , 2002Munson et al, 2004;Aas et al, 2005;Kumar et al, 2005;de Lillo et al, 2006). Among the many uncultivable human oral phylotypes two clones with an apparently supragingival habitat, BU045 and BU063, attracted some interest, because their 16S rRNA gene sequence groups them within the genus Tannerella (Paster et al, 2001;Leys et al, 2002;de Lillo et al, 2004), which otherwise contains, besides some uncultivated clones from soil, only a single species, Tannerella forsythia (also known as Tannerella forsythensis) (Tanner et al, 1986;Tanner & Izard, 2006). T. forsythia is a 'consensus periodontal pathogen ' (Haffajee & Socransky, 2006) and associated with subgingival plaque from chronic and occasionally aggressive periodontitis (see Tanner & Izard, 2006, for review) rather than periodontal health like the two clones BU045 and BU063.…”

A Novel Sialic Acid Utilization and Uptake System in the Periodontal Pathogen Tannerella forsythia

“…Tannerella forsythia is a Gram-negative obligate anaerobic pathogen that causes periodontitis in humans (26,30,31). This is a globally important disease that affects over 300 million people and is increasingly linked with a number of systemic sequelae (11).…”