Bacteriocin-like activity of oral Fusobacterium nucleatum isolated from human and non-human primates

• Autor(a) principal: Gaetti-Jardim Júnior,Elerson
• Data de Publicação: 1999
• Outros Autores: Avila-Campos,Mario Julio
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista de Microbiologia
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0001-37141999000400009
• topic: Fusobacterium nucleatum; bacteriocin-like substance; oral bacteria

Fusobacterium nucleatum is indigenous of the human oral cavity and has been involved in different infectious processes. The production of bacteriocin-like substances may be important in regulation of bacterial microbiota in oral cavity. The ability to produce bacteriocin-like substances by 80 oral F. nucleatum isolates obtained from periodontal patients, healthy individuals and Cebus apella monkeys, was examinated. 17.5% of all tested isolates showed auto-antagonism and 78.8% iso- or hetero-antagonism. No isolate from monkey was capable to produce auto-inhibition. In this study, the antagonistic substances production was variable in all tested isolates. Most of the F. nucleatum showed antagonistic activity against tested reference strains. These data suggest a possible participation of these substances on the oral microbial ecology in humans and animals. However, the role of bacteriocins in regulating dental plaque microbiota in vivo is discussed.