Project description:Genotyping studies suggest that there is genetic variability among P. gingivalis strains, however the extent of variability remains unclear, and the regions of variability have only partially been identified. We previously used heteroduplex analysis of the ribosomal operon intergenic spacer region (ISR) to type P. gingivalis strains in several diverse populations, identifying 6 predominant heteroduplex types and many minor ones. In addition we used ISR sequence analysis to determine the relatedness of P. gingivalis strains to one another, and demonstrated a link between ISR sequence phylogeny and the disease-associated phenotype of P. gingivalis strains. The availability of whole genome microarrays based on the genomic sequence of strain W83 has allowed a more comprehensive analysis of P. gingivalis strain variability, using the entire genome. The objectives of this study were to define the phylogeny of P. gingivalis strains using the entire genome, to compare the phylogeny based on genome content to the phylogeny based on a single locus (ISR), and to identify genes that are associated with the strongly disease-associated strain W83 that could be important for virulence. Keywords: Comparative genomic hybridization
