Scanning electron micrograph of Fusobacterium nucleatum cells (fusiform cells) coaggregating with Porphromonas gingivalis cells (coccobacillary cells).

Fusobacterium nucleatum is an anaerobic Gram-negative non-sporeforming bacterium, and the type species for the genus Fuosbacterium. The species has a low G+C content (27 to 28%), and phylogenetic studies group the fusobacteria as a branch among the high and low G+C Gram-positive bacteria.

The cells of F. nucleatum are spindle-shaped or fusiform rods of variable length. All strains obtain energy from the fermentation of sugars or amino acids, and produce butyric acid as a major metabolic by-product. F. nucleatum is found in the dental plaque of primates, including man. This microorganism has been postulated to play a central role in dental plaque formation, based on its ability to adhere to a wide range of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative plaque microorganisms. F. nucleatum is frequently associated with periodontitis, as well as invasive human infections of the head and neck, chest, lung, liver and abdomen. Properties of F. nucleatum that may be related to virulence include it's adherence to and invasion of host tissue cells, and modulation of the host immune response. Native plasmids have been identified in strains of F. nucleatum, and an F. nucleatum - E. coli shuttle vector has been developed using the native plasmid pFN1.

BLAST search against our Fusobacterium nucleatum sequence data

You can download the data from our FTP site at:
ftp://ftp.hgsc.bcm.tmc.edu/pub/data/Fnucleatum/

Bolstad, A. I., H. B. Jensen, and V. Bakken. 1996. Taxonomy, biology, and periodontal aspects of Fusobacterium nucleatum. Clinical Microbiology Reviews 9(1):55-71.

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Demuth, D. R., R. Savary, E. Golub, and B. J. Shenker. 1996. Identification and analysis of fipA, a Fusobacterium nucleatum immunosuppressive factor gene. Infection and Immunity 64(4):1335-1341.

Dzink, J. L., M. T. Sheenan, and S. S. Socransky. 1990. Proposal of three subspecies of Fusobacterium nucleatum Knorr 1922: Fusobacterium nucleatum subsp. nucleatum subsp. nov., comb. nov.; Fusobacterium nucleatum subsp. polymorphum subsp. nov., nom. rev., comb. nov.; and Fusobacterium nucleatum subsp. vincentii subsp. nov., nom. rev., comb. nov. International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology 40(1):74-78.

Goldstein, E. J. C., P. H. Summanen, D. M. Citron, M. H. Rosove, and S. M. Finegold. 1995. Fatal sepsis due to a b-lactamase-producing strain of Fusobacterium nucleatum subspecies polymorphum. Clinical Infectious Diseases 20:797-800.

Han, Y. W., W. Shi, G. T. Huang, S. Kinder Haake, N. H. Park, H. Kuramitsu, and R. J. Genco. 2000. Interactions between periodontal bacteria and human oral epithelial cells: Fusobacterium nucleatum adheres to and invades epithelial cells. Infect Immun 68(6):3140-6.

Jewett, A., W. R. Hume, H. Le, T. N. Huynh, Y. W. Han, G. Cheng, and W. Shi. 2000. Induction of apoptotic cell death in peripheral blood mononuclear and polymorphonuclear cells by an oral bacterium, Fusobacterium nucleatum. Infect Immun 68(4):1893-8.

Jousimies-Somer, H., S. Savolainen, A. Mäkitie, and J. Ylikoski. 1993. Bacteriologic findings in peritonsillar abscesses in young adults. Clinical Infectious Diseases 16 (Suppl. 4):S292-298.

Kinder Haake, S., and R. A. Lindemann. 1997. Fusobacterium nucleatum T18 aggregates human mononuclear cells and inhibits their PHA-stimulated proliferation. Journal of Periodontology 68:39-44.

Kinder Haake, S., S. C. Yoder, G. Attarian, and K. Podkaminer. 2000. Native plasmids of Fusobacterium nucleatum: Characterization and use in development of genetic systems. Journal of Bacteriology 182(4):1176-1180.

Kolenbrander, P. E., and J. London. 1993. Adhere today, here tomorrow: Oral bacterial adherence. Journal of Bacteriology 175(11):3247-3252.

McKay, T. L., J. Ko, Y. Bilalis, and J. M. DiRienzo. 1995. Mobile genetic elements of Fusobacterium nucleatum. Plasmid 33:15-20.

Moore, W. E. C., L. V. Holdeman, and R. W. Kelley. 1984. Genus II. Fusobacterium, p. 631-637. In N. R. Krieg (ed.), Bergey's manual of systematic bacteriology, vol. 1. Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore.

Olsen, G. J., C. R. Woese, and R. Overbeek. 1994. The winds of (evolutionary) change: Breathing new life into microbiology. Journal of Bacteriology 176(1):1-6.

Ozaki, M., Y. Miyake, M. Shirakawa, T. Takemoto, H. Okamoto, and H. Suginaka. 1990. Binding specificity of Fusobacterium nucleatum to human erythrocytes, polymorphonuclear leukocytes, fibroblasts, and HeLa cells. Journal of Periodontal Research 25:129-134.

Robrish, S. A., and J. Thompson. 1990. Regulation of fructose metabolism and polymer synthesis by Fusobacterium nucleatum ATCC 10953. 172(10):5714-5723.

Rogers, A. H. 1998. Studies on fusobacteria associated with periodontal diseases. Aust Dent J 43(2):105-9.

Shenker, B. J., and S. Datar. 1995. Fusobacterium nucleatum inhibits human T-cell activation by arresting cells in the mid-G1 phase of the cell cycle. Infection and Immunity 63(12):4830-4836.

Tuttle, R. S., N. A. Strubel, J. Mourad, and D. F. Mangan. 1992. A non-lectin-like mechanism by which Fusobacterium nucleatum 10953 adheres to and activates human lymphocytes. Oral Microbiology and Immunology 7:78-83.

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