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Updated: Mar 31, 2026

Porphyromonas gingivalis as a Model Organism for Assessing Interaction of Anaerobic Bacteria with Host Cells
Published on: December 17, 2015
The Porphyromonas gingivalis ferric uptake regulator orthologue does not regulate iron homeostasis
Catherine Butler1, Helen Mitchell1, Stuart Dashper1
1Oral Health Cooperative Research Centre, Melbourne Dental School, Bio21 Institute, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Abstract:
Porphyromonas gingivalis is a Gram-negative anaerobic bacterium that has an absolute requirement for iron which it transports from the host as heme and/or Fe(2 +). Iron transport must be regulated to prevent toxic effects from excess metal in the cell. P. gingivalis has one ferric uptake regulator (Fur) orthologue encoded in its genome called Har, which would be expected to regulate the transport and usage of iron within this bacterium. As a gene regulator, inactivation of Har should result in changes in gene expression of several genes compared to the wild-type. This dataset (GEO accession number GSE37099) provides information on expression levels of genes in P. gingivalis in the absence of Har. Surprisingly, these genes do not relate to iron homeostasis.
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