Development of a gene delivery system in Streptococcus gordonii using thymidylate synthase as a selection marker

Streptococcus gordonii, a commensal bacterium of the human oral cavity, is a potential live vaccine vector. In this study, we have developed a system that delivers a vaccine antigen gene onto the chromosome of S. gordonii. The system consisted of a recipient strain, that is a thymidine auxotroph constructed by deletion of a portion of thyA gene, and a linear gene delivery construct, composed of the functional thyA gene, the vaccine antigen gene, and a DNA fragment immediately downstream of thyA. The construct is assembled by a ligation and polymerase chain reaction strategy. Upon introduction into the thyA mutant, the vaccine antigen gene integrated into the chromosome via a double crossing-over event. Using the above strategy, a test vaccine antigen gene coding for a fusion protein composed of the Bordetella pertussis filamentous hemagglutinin type I domain and the single chain antibody against complement receptor 1 was successfully delivered to S. gordonii. The resulting S. gordonii expressed the fusion protein and the delivered gene was stable in the bacterium in vitro and in a mouse colonization experiment. Mice colonized by the fusion protein-expressing S. gordonii developed antibodies that recognized the native filamentous hemagglutinin protein suggesting that an immune response was elicited.