science

Fusobacterium nucleatum

Fusobacterium nucleatum is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Fusobacterium nucleatum rather than just read about it. In short: Fusobacterium nucleatum is a Gram-negative, anaerobic bacterium, commensal to the human oral cavity, that plays a role in periodontal disease. This organism is commonly recovered from different monocultured microbial and mixed infections in humans and animals.

Key takeaways

Fusobacterium nucleatum belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Fusobacterium nucleatum to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Fusobacterium nucleatum from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Fusobacterium nucleatum is a Gram-negative, anaerobic bacterium, commensal to the human oral cavity, that plays a role in periodontal disease. This organism is commonly recovered from different monocultured microbial and mixed infections in humans and animals. In health and disease, it is a key component of periodontal plaque due to its abundance and its ability to coaggregate with other bacteria species in the oral cavity.

Preterm births Research implicates periodontal disease caused by F. nucleatum with preterm births in humans. In many studies, F. nucleatum cells have been isolated from the amniotic fluid, placenta, and chorioamnionic membranes of women delivering prematurely. Moreover, laboratory mice intravenously inoculated with F. nucleatum have been found to deliver prematurely, and the pathology of the infection seems to mirror observations in humans. Together, this research provides evidence for a possible causal connection between F. nucleatum-caused periodontal disease and at least some cases of preterm delivery. F. nucleatum can also be isolated from the vaginal microbiome, especially in women with a condition known as bacterial vaginosis. Both F. nucleatum vaginal colonization and bacterial vaginosis also have been linked with preterm birth and infections within the uterus. Thus, preterm birth arising by infections caused by F. nucleatum could also arise from invasive infection into the uterine tissue originating from the colonized vagina.

Colon cancer F. nucleatum has a demonstrated association with colorectal cancer, notably studied by Susan Bullman. Fusobacterium species have been found at higher quantities in certain types of colon tumors than in surrounding colon tissue or the colons of healthy individuals, but whether this is an indirect correlation or a causal link is unclear. A distinguishing mechanism has been described by which F. nucleatum creates a pro-inflammatory environment which is conducive to tumor growth through the recruitment of tumor-infiltrating immune cells, which, unlike other bacteria linked to colorectal carcinoma, does not exacerbate other pathological processes such as colitis, enteritis and inflammatory-associated intestinal carcinogenesis. This suggests direct and specific carcinogenesis. F. nucleatum can bind to host tissue E-cadherins via a FadA, an outer membrane protein. Additionally, a surface expressed lectin called Fap2 mediates F. nucleatum adherence to colorectal cancer cells that express Gal/GalNAc moieties on their surface. Binding via Fap2 has also been shown to up-regulate production of cytokines associated with higher rates of metastasis.

Natural competence Type IV pili facilitate natural competence in F. nucleatum. Natural competence involves three principal stages: (1) Uptake of exogenous DNA and transport to the cytoplasm, (2) homologous DNA that has been taken up can integrate into the recipient cell genome by homologous recombination, and (3) the integrated exogenous DNA can express gene functions.

See also List of bacterial vaginosis microbiota

References

External links Type strain of Fusobacterium nucleatum at BacDive - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Fusobacterium nucleatum

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Fusobacterium nucleatum claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Fusobacterium nucleatum before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Fusobacterium nucleatum ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Fusobacterium nucleatum

In research: Fusobacterium nucleatum appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Fusobacterium nucleatum in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Fusobacterium nucleatum is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Anaerobes, Bacteria described in 1922, Bacterial vaginosis, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Fusobacterium nucleatum outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Fusobacterium nucleatum” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Fusobacterium nucleatum in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Fusobacterium nucleatum means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Fusobacterium nucleatum out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Fusobacterium nucleatum in simple terms?

Why does Fusobacterium nucleatum matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Fusobacterium nucleatum?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Fusobacterium nucleatum.