This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental material Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Kumar, P. S. Articles by Leys, E. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Kumar, P. S. Articles by Leys, E. J.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, August 2005, p. 3944-3955, Vol. 43, No. 8
0095-1137/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.43.8.3944-3955.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Identification of Candidate Periodontal Pathogens and Beneficial Species by Quantitative 16S Clonal Analysis

Section of Periodontology,¹ Section of Pediatric Dentistry,² Section of Oral Biology, College of Dentistry,⁴ Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Medicine and Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43218³

Received 18 February 2005/ Returned for modification 5 April 2005/ Accepted 10 April 2005

Most studies of the bacterial etiology of periodontitis have used either culture-based or targeted DNA approaches, and so it is likely that pathogens remain undiscovered. The purpose of this study was to use culture-independent, quantitative analysis of biofilms associated with chronic periodontitis and periodontal health to identify pathogens and beneficial species. Samples from subjects with periodontitis and controls were analyzed using ribosomal 16S cloning and sequencing. Several genera, many of them uncultivated, were associated with periodontitis, the most numerous of which were gram positive, including Peptostreptococcus and Filifactor. The genera Megasphaera and Desulfobulbus were elevated in periodontitis, and the levels of several species or phylotypes of Campylobacter, Selenomonas, Deferribacteres, Dialister, Catonella, Tannerella, Streptococcus, Atopobium, Eubacterium, and Treponema were elevated in disease. Streptococcus and Veillonella spp. were found in high numbers in all samples and accounted for a significantly greater fraction of the microbial community in healthy subjects than in those with periodontitis. The microbial profile of periodontal health also included the less-abundant genera Campylobacter, Abiotrophia, Gemella, Capnocytophaga, and Neisseria. These newly identified candidates outnumbered Porphyromonas gingivalis and other species previously implicated as periodontopathogens, and it is not clear if newly identified and more numerous species may play a more important role in pathogenesis. Finally, more differences were found in the bacterial profile between subjects with periodontitis and healthy subjects than between deep and shallow sites within the same subject. This suggests that chronic periodontitis is the result of a global perturbation of the oral bacterial ecology rather than a disease-site specific microbial shift.

Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jcm.asm.org/.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Vianna, M. E., Holtgraewe, S., Seyfarth, I., Conrads, G., Horz, H. P. (2008). Quantitative Analysis of Three Hydrogenotrophic Microbial Groups, Methanogenic Archaea, Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria, and Acetogenic Bacteria, within Plaque Biofilms Associated with Human Periodontal Disease. J. Bacteriol. 190: 3779-3785 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kuramitsu, H. K., He, X., Lux, R., Anderson, M. H., Shi, W. (2007). Interspecies Interactions within Oral Microbial Communities. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 71: 653-670 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Zuger, J., Luthi-Schaller, H., Gmur, R. (2007). Uncultivated Tannerella BU045 and BU063 are slim segmented filamentous rods of high prevalence but low abundance in inflammatory disease-associated dental plaques. Microbiology 153: 3809-3816 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Teughels, W., Kinder Haake, S., Sliepen, I., Pauwels, M., Van Eldere, J., Cassiman, J.-J., Quirynen, M. (2007). Bacteria Interfere with A. actinomycetemcomitans Colonization. J. Dent. Res. 86: 611-617 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Hasegawa, Y., Mans, J. J., Mao, S., Lopez, M. C., Baker, H. V., Handfield, M., Lamont, R. J. (2007). Gingival Epithelial Cell Transcriptional Responses to Commensal and Opportunistic Oral Microbial Species. Infect. Immun. 75: 2540-2547 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kesavalu, L., Sathishkumar, S., Bakthavatchalu, V., Matthews, C., Dawson, D., Steffen, M., Ebersole, J. L. (2007). Rat Model of Polymicrobial Infection, Immunity, and Alveolar Bone Resorption in Periodontal Disease. Infect. Immun. 75: 1704-1712 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kumar, P. S., Leys, E. J., Bryk, J. M., Martinez, F. J., Moeschberger, M. L., Griffen, A. L. (2006). Changes in Periodontal Health Status Are Associated with Bacterial Community Shifts as Assessed by Quantitative 16S Cloning and Sequencing.. J. Clin. Microbiol. 44: 3665-3673 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Moter, A., Riep, B., Haban, V., Heuner, K., Siebert, G., Berning, M., Wyss, C., Ehmke, B., Flemmig, T. F., Gobel, U. B. (2006). Molecular epidemiology of oral treponemes in patients with periodontitis and in periodontitis-resistant subjects.. J. Clin. Microbiol. 44: 3078-3085 [Abstract] [Full Text]