A STUDY ON THE IDENTIFICATION OF Porphyromonas endodontalis BY PCR USING SPECIES SPECIFIC PRIMERS FOR THE 16S rDNA

16S rDNA sequence에 대한 종특이성 primer를 이용한 중합효소연쇄반응증폭에 의한 Porphyromonas endodontalis의 동정에 관한 연구

P. endodontalis which was known to be associated with the infected root canals and periapical lesions is very difficult to detect by culture methods or traditional methods. Detection of bacteria using polymerase chain reaction(PCR) for 16S ribosomal DNA(rDNA) is fast, simple, and accurate with relatively small amount of target cells. 16S rDNA consist of conserved regions those are same to all species, and variable regions which represent species specificity. The 16S rDNA sequences of P. endodontalis and P. gingivalis were aligned and two highly variable regions were selected as a pair of species specific oligonucleotide primers for P. endodontalis. And then the pair of primers for PCR amplification was synthesized to identify P. endodontalis. The sequences of the species specific primers for the 16S rDNA of P. endodontalis were as follows ; sense primer[endo1]: 5'-CTATATTCTTCTTTCTCCGCATGGAGGAGG-3' antisense primer[endo2]: 5'-GCATACCTTCGGTCTCCTCTAGCATAT-3' In this study, for the identification of P. endodontalis without culture from the mixed clinical samples, PCR was done with species specific primers for the 16S rDNA sequences of P. endodontalis. The results were as follows : 1. The species specificity of the primers for the 16S rDNA of P. endodntalis was determined by the PCR methods. About 490bp amplicon which was specific only for P. endodntalis was produced with P. endodontalis. No amplicon was produced by PCR with other strains similar to P. endodontalis. 2. The synthesized species specific primers reacted with conventionally identified P. endodontalis which we have in conservative dentistry laboratory. 3. The identification of P. endodontalis using PCR technique with samples collected from infected root canals or periapical lesions was more sensitive than that of culture methods. 4. Seven samples revealed including P. endodontalis by PCR technique. Five of them were related with pains, two of them with sinus tract, three of them with foul odor, and three of them with purulent drainage. P. endodontalis was shown to have great relation with pains.