Methanogenic Archaea and Human Periodontal Disease

Archaea have been isolated from the human colon, vagina, and oral cavity, but have not been established as causes of human disease. In this study, we reveal a relationship between the severity of periodontal disease and the relative abundance of archaeal small subunit ribosomal RNA genes (SSU rDNA)...

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Published in:	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 101; no. 16; pp. 6176 - 6181
Main Authors:	Lepp, Paul W., Brinig, Mary M., Ouverney, Cleber C., Palm, Katherine, Armitage, Gary C., Relman, David A., Falkow, Stanley
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States National Academy of Sciences 20-04-2004 National Acad Sciences
Subjects:	Archaea Archaea - classification Archaea - genetics Archaea - pathogenicity Bacteria Base Sequence Biological Sciences Chronic diseases Dental care DNA Primers Humans Methanobrevibacter Methanobrevibacter oralis Methanogens Microbiology Molecular Sequence Data Mouth diseases Periodontal diseases Periodontal Diseases - microbiology Periodontics Periodontitis Phylogeny Polymerase Chain Reaction Ribonucleic acid Ribosomal DNA RNA RNA, Ribosomal - genetics rRNA genes
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Summary:	Archaea have been isolated from the human colon, vagina, and oral cavity, but have not been established as causes of human disease. In this study, we reveal a relationship between the severity of periodontal disease and the relative abundance of archaeal small subunit ribosomal RNA genes (SSU rDNA) in the subgingival crevice by using quantitative PCR. Furthermore, the relative abundance of archael small subunit rDNA decreased at treated sites in association with clinical improvement. Archaea were harbored by 36% of periodontitis patients and were restricted to subgingival sites with periodontal disease. The presence of archaeal cells at these sites was confirmed by fluorescent in situ hybridization. The archaeal community at diseased sites was dominated by a Methanobrevibacter oralis-like phylotype and a distinct Methanobrevibacter subpopulation related to archaea that inhabit the gut of numerous animals. We hypothesize that methanogens participate in syntrophic relationships in the subgingival crevice that promote colonization by secondary fermenters during periodontitis. Because they are potential alternative syntrophic partners, our finding of larger Treponema populations sites without archaea provides further support for this hypothesis.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 Data deposition: The sequences reported in this paper have been deposited in the GenBank database (accession nos. AY374553 and AY374554). Edited by Stanley Falkow, Stanford University, Stanford, CA This paper was submitted directly (Track II) to the PNAS office. To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: pwlepp@cmgm.stanford.edu. Abbreviations: CAL, clinical attachment loss; FISH, fluorescence in situ hybridization; SSU, small subunit.
ISSN:	0027-8424 1091-6490
DOI:	10.1073/pnas.0308766101