Major outer membrane proteins and proteolytic processing of RgpA and Kgp of Porphyromonas gingivalis W50

Abstract

Porphyromonas gingivalis is an anaerobic, asaccharolytic Gram-negative rod associated with chronic periodontitis. We have undertaken a proteomic study of the outer membrane of P. gingivalis strain W50 using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and peptide mass fingerprinting. Proteins were identified by reference to the pre-release genomic sequence of P. gingivalis available from The Institute for Genomic Research. Out of 39 proteins identified, five were TonB-linked outer membrane receptors, ten others were putative integral outer membrane proteins and four were putative lipoproteins. Pyroglutamate was found to be the N-terminal residue of seven of the proteins, and was predicted to be the N..