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Imogen McDougall Bench B 31/08/2016

Classification

Higher order taxa

Bacteria - Proteobacteria - Neisseriales - Neiseeriaceae - Kingella

Species

Species: Kingella oralis ^[2]

Type strain: UB-38 ^[1]

Description and significance

Kingella oralis was first discovered in a 1989 study conducted by Chen et al. The study focussed on Eikenella corrodens found in human oral samples ^[3] . It was noticed that during culturing and biochemical studies that there was a larger than expected level of variation for one species ^[3] . In 1990 Chen et al investigated these variants further and identified three Eikenella like species; UB-38, UB-204 and UB-294 ^[4] . Further studies on UB-38, Kingella oralis (originally Kingella orale) was conducted by Dewhirst et al. in 1993.

K.oralis has been found in a range of sites in the human oral cavity. It has been found in saliva, on mucosal surfaces and in dental plaque of both sub and supra-gingival origin ^[5] . In peridontally healthy individuals K. oralis is more prominent in subgingival plaques however in both adult and juvenile periodontitis cases, k. oralis is more common in the supraginigval ^[5] .

This gram negative bacilli bacteria has been successfully cultured using a trypticase soy agar plate with 5% sheep blood and incubated in conditions designed to replicate the human oral cavity (37^o C, aerobic, 5% CO2) ^[3].

Due to K. oralis presence in subgingival and supragingival plaque and its potential association to periodontitis as described by Chen in 1996, this microorganism is important to study. A better understanding of K.oralis interactions with its host and other microorganisms as well as its biochemical pathways and lifestyle could lead to a better understanding of its association with periodontitis. This in turn could lead to advancements in diagnosis and treatments of this condition.

Genome structure

Strain: ATCC51147

Size: 2.4 Mb

GC content: 54%

Genes: 2435

Pseudogenes: 64

rRNA: 6 ^[6]

Cell structure and metabolism

K. oralis is a gram negative bacteria and has been found in dental plaque, both sub and supraginigval. It is therefore can take part in biofilms, however it is unknown at what stage in biofilm formation K.oralis is involved. K.oralis cells are not motile on their own, they do not have flagella, instead they form spreading colonies ^[2]. This spreading ability may indicate a potential for twitching motility which has been observed in other Kingella, Eikenella and Neisseria species^[2]. K. oralis is a chemoorganotroph, it uses energy and carbon acquired by breaking chemical bonds in organic compounds. It is oxidase positive and catalase negative and can produce acid weakly from glucose but not other sugars^[2].

Ecology

Aerobe/anaerobe, habitat (location in the oral cavity, potential other environments) and microbe/host interactions.

Pathology

Do these microorganisms cause disease in the oral cavity or elsewhere?

Application to biotechnology

Bioengineering, biotechnologically relevant enzyme/compound production, drug targets,…

Current research

Summarise some of the most recent discoveries regarding this species.

References

1. List of Prokaryotic names with standing in nomenclature

2.Dewhirst FE, Chen C-KC, Paster BJ, Zambon JJ. 1993. Phylogeny of Species in the Family Neisseriaceae Isolated from Human Dental Plaque and Description of Kingella orale sp. nov. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 43:490-499.

3. Chen CKC, Dunford RG, Reynolds HS, Zambon JJ. 1989. Eikenella corrodens in the hUman Oral Cavity. Journal of Periodontology 60:611-616.

4. Chen CKC, Potts TV, Wilson ME. 1990. DNA homologies shared among E. corrodens isolates and other corroding bacilli from the oral cavity. Journal of Periodontal Research 25:106-112.

5. Chen CKC. 1996. Distribution of a newly described species, Kingella oralis, in the human oral cavity. Oral Microbiology and Immunology 11:425-427.

6. NCBI: Kingella oralis

References examples

w. Human Oral Microbiome

This page is written by Imogen McDougall for the MICR3004 course, Semester 2, 2016