This research was supported by the University of Auckland, The Kate Sheppard Memorial Trust,
The New Horizons for Women Trust (Elsie Locke Award), The Claude McCarthy Fellowship, and The Duffus Lubecki Scholarship. We are grateful to Dr Sally Roberts (LabPlus, Auckland Hospital) for the provision of clinical isolates and to Catherine Hobbis (Research Centre for Surface and Materials Science, University of Auckland) for technical assistance with cSEM. We also thank the anonymous referees for CDK assay their helpful comments. “
“Abundant mycolic acids are the hallmark of the mycobacterial cell wall. The biosynthesis of mycolic acids fulfilled by type I (Fas-I) and type II (Fas-II) synthase systems necessitates long chain fatty acids as the raw material. Fas-I is responsible for de novo fatty acid synthesis to form fatty acids 16–24 carbons in length and then elongated by the monofunctional enzymes of Fas-II to form long chain fatty acids, and further to form mycolic acids. Mutation of monofunctional enzymes can confer mycobacterial drug resistance. The key monofunctional enzymes of this system might represent new drug target candidates for antituberculosis drug development. “
“Porphyromonas gingivalis is a Gram-negative oral anaerobe that
is involved in the pathogenesis of periodontitis, an inflammatory disease that destroys the tissues supporting the tooth, eventually leading to tooth loss. Porphyromonas gingivalis has can locally invade periodontal buy MK-2206 tissues and evade the host defence mechanisms. In doing so, it utilizes a panel of virulence factors that cause deregulation of the innate immune and inflammatory responses. The present review discusses the invasive and evasive strategies of
P. gingivalis and the role of its major virulence factors in these, namely lipopolysaccharide, capsule, gingipains and fimbriae. Moreover, the role of P. gingivalis as a ‘keystone’ biofilm species in orchestrating a host response, is highlighted. Periodontal disease, or periodontitis, is defined as a bacterially induced inflammatory disease of the tooth-supporting (periodontal) tissues. Although more than 700 bacterial species can colonize the oral cavity (Aas et al., 2005), only a handful of those are highly Idelalisib in vivo implicated in the disease (Paster et al., 2006). Porphyromonas gingivalis is the species most highly associated with the chronic form of periodontitis, and can be detected in up to 85% of the disease sites (Yang et al., 2004). It is detected rarely or at low in numbers in healthy sites. The presence of P. gingivalis in a periodontal pocket may predict imminent disease progression (van Winkelhoff et al., 2002) and a significant positive correlation is found between P. gingivalis numbers and pocket depth (Kawada et al., 2004). Following periodontal treatment, a reduction of P.