Genetic Manipulation of Cultivable Treponemes
Howard K. Kuramitsu
from: Pathogenic Treponema: Molecular and Cellular Biology (Edited by: Justin D. Radolf and Sheila A. Lukehart). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2006)
Abstract
Until relatively recently, genetic characterization of treponemes was limited to cloning genes from these organisms into nonspirochete hosts such as Escherichia coli. However, the recent development of transformation systems for a few cultivable spirochetes, particularly the oral spirochete Treponema denticola, has now enabled the construction of monospecific mutants in these organisms. In addition, construction of novel shuttle plasmids has resulted in the expression of heterologous genes in these transformable strains. This will now allow for the expression and characterization of genes from noncultivable treponemes in selected cultivable treponemes. Thus, the development of these genetic tools should lead to more detailed characterization of virulence factors in both cultivable and noncultivable treponemes read more ...
