IDENTIFYING VIRULENCE FACTORS OF BACTEROIDES FORSYTHUS

连翘拟杆菌是一种丝状、无运动、无色素、革兰氏阴性厌氧菌，被认为是牙周病的病原之一。然而，很少有研究检查这种口腔微生物产生的潜在毒力因子。了解连翘b感染需要在体内宿主-寄生虫相互作用的背景下确认其毒力因子的作用。一种被称为体内表达技术（IVET）的创新基因技术已经被开发出来，目的是分离仅在感染过程中表达的基因。IVET在分离沙门氏菌、假单胞菌和葡萄球菌等主要医学病原体的新毒力因子方面的应用已得到证实。本应用的初步数据表明，IVET已成功地用于检测仅在体内表达的牙龈卟啉单胞菌（一种主要的牙周病原体）的基因。本研究的具体目的是：(1)构建连翘B. forsythus的IVET系统pBFIVET；(2)检测pBFIVET在连翘B. forsythus感染过程中表达基因的分离效果。本研究获得的结果将有助于实现本实验室的长期目标：检查连翘在牙周感染中的作用。

Bacteroides forsythus is a filamentous, non-motile, non-pigmenting, gram-negative anaerobe that has been implicated as one of the etiologic agents of periodontal disease. Few studies, however, have examined the potential virulence factors produced by this oral microorganism. Understanding a B. forsythus infection requires that the roles of its virulence factors be confirmed in the context of an in vivo host-parasite interaction. An innovative genetic technique termed in vivo expression technology (IVET) has been developed for the purpose of isolating genes expressed only during the infectious process. The utility of IVET has been proven in isolating novel virulence factors of major medical pathogens, such as Salmonella, Pseudomonas, and Staphylococci. Preliminary data presented in this application shows that IVET has been successfully used to detect genes of Porphyromonas gingivalis, a principal periodontal pathogen, that are expressed only in vivo. The specific aims of this proposed study are (1) to construct pBFIVET, the IVET system for B. forsythus, and (2) to test pBFIVET for efficacy in isolating B. forsythus genes expressed only during the infectious process. The results obtained from this study will help achieve the long-term goal of this laboratory: to examine the role of B. forsythus in periodontal infection.