The Fusobacterium nucleatum major outer-membrane protein (FomA) forms trimeric, water-filled channels in lipid bilayer membranes.

Abstract

The pore-forming activity of the major outer-membrane protein FomA of the anaerobic Fusobacterium nucleatum was studied in artificial lipid bilayer membranes. FomA was isolated from F. nucleatum strains Fev1, ATCC 10953, and ATCC 25586 by extraction with lithium dodecyl sulfate and lithium chloride and had an apparent molecular mass of about 40 kDa. When solubilized at low temperatures, the protein ran with an apparent molecular mass of about 62 kDa on SDS/PAGE. Cross-linking experiments and two-dimensional SDS/PAGE gave evidence that the 62-kDa protein band represented the trimeric form of FomA. The protein trimers were susceptible to SDS and temperature. The stability of the porin trimers varied among the strains. The properties of the FomA channels were studied in reconstitution experiments with black lipid bilayer membranes. The F. nucleatum porins formed channels with single-channel conductances in the range 0.66-1.30 nS in M KCl. The single-channel conductance was a function of the mobilities of the ions present in the aqueous solution bathing the bilayer membrane. This means that FomA forms general diffusion channels since (a) the conductance showed a linear dependence on the salt concentration, (b) the ion selectivity was small and varied for the three strains, and (c) the channels did not exhibit any binding site for maltotriose or triglycine. The water-filled channel was voltage dependent, and conductance decrements were observed at transmembrane potentials of +/- 50 mV. The conductance decrement steps were about one-third of the total conductance of a functional unit in its fully 'open' state. This strongly suggests that the trimer is the functional unit of the porin.