Fusobacterium nucleatum is a periodontal pathogen that has been directly associated with the development and progression of periodontal disease, a widespread pathology that affects the support tissues of the tooth. We isolated a new bacteriophage (Fnp 02) that specifically infects this bacterium. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the virion is composed of an icosahedral head and a segmented tail. The size of the phage genome was estimated to be approximately 59 kbp of double-stranded DNA. The morphological features and the genetic characteristics suggest that Fnp 02 is part of the Siphoviridae family. Using one-step growth and adsorption experiments, the latent period, burst size, and adsorption rate were estimated to be 15 h, 100 infectious units per cell, and 7.5 10 10 ml min 1, respectively. A small fragment of phage DNA was clonedand sequenced, showing 93% nucleotide identity with the phage PA6 of Propionibacterium acnes and amino acid identity with fragments of two proteins (Gp3 and Gp4) of this phage. To our knowledge, Fnp 02 is the first phage described to infect Fusobacterium nucleatum and provides the base for future exploration of phages in the control of periodontal disease.
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机译：核梭状芽胞杆菌是一种牙周病原体，与牙周疾病的发展和进程直接相关，牙周疾病是一种影响牙齿支持组织的广泛病理。我们分离出一种新的噬菌体（Fnp 02），该噬菌体特异性感染该细菌。透射电子显微镜显示病毒体由二十面体头部和分段尾部组成。噬菌体基因组的大小估计为约59kbp的双链DNA。形态学特征和遗传特征表明，Fnp 02是Siphoviridae家族的一部分。使用一步生长和吸附实验，估计潜伏期，爆发大小和吸附速率分别为15 h，每个细胞100个感染单位和7.5 10 10 ml min 1。克隆并测序了一小段噬菌体DNA，显示出与痤疮丙酸杆菌噬菌体PA6的核苷酸同一性为93％，与该噬菌体的两种蛋白质（Gp3和Gp4）的片段具有氨基酸同一性。据我们所知，Fnp 02是第一个被描述感染核纤梭菌的噬菌体，并为将来在控制牙周疾病中探索噬菌体提供了基础。
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