Proteases and collagenases of Porphyromonas gingivalis.

Proteases expressed by Porphyromonas gingivalis have been considered as potential virulence factors for these periodontopathic micro-organisms. The introduction of molecular genetic approaches to study these enzymes has clearly demonstrated that these organisms are capable of expressing multiple distinct proteases. Several of these enzymes are apparently expressed as active proteolytic products following processing of larger precursor proteins. In addition, more recent data have suggested a close relationship between some of these enzymes and two other potential virulence factors of these organisms: hemagglutinins and collagenases.