Bacteriocin (Mutacin) Production by
            <i>Streptococcus mutans</i>
            Genome Sequence Reference Strain UA159: Elucidation of the Antimicrobial Repertoire by Genetic Dissection

Hale, John K.; Ting, Yi Tian; Jack, Ralph W.; Tagg, John; Heng, Nicholas C. K.

doi:10.1128/aem.71.11.7613-7617.2005

Cited by 72 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…6). SMU.150 is involved in the synthesis of bacteriocin that is capable of inhibiting the growth of non-mutans streptococci (46)(47)(48). Conversely, pyruvate oxidase encoded by spxB is largely responsible for H 2 O 2 production (47), which can be used by S. gordonii to outcompete S. mutans within mixed-species biofilms (47).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ex- pression of S. mutans SMU.150, which encodes mutacin, was repressed during the early biofilm development stage. Mutacin production by S. mutans is known to inhibit the growth of commensal bacteria, such as S. gordonii (46). Conversely, L-arginine exposure induced S. gordonii H 2 O 2 production, which is an effective "chemical weapon" against S. mutans growth in vitro (47).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

l -Arginine Modifies the Exopolysaccharide Matrix and Thwarts Streptococcus mutans Outgrowth within Mixed-Species Oral Biofilms

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

L-Arginine, a ubiquitous amino acid in human saliva, serves as a substrate for alkali production by arginolytic bacteria. Recently, exogenous L-arginine has been shown to enhance the alkalinogenic potential of oral biofilm and destabilize its microbial community, which might help control dental caries. However, L-arginine exposure may inflict additional changes in the biofilm milieu when bacteria are growing under cariogenic conditions. Here, we investigated how exogenous L-arginine modulates biofilm development using a mixed-species model containing both cariogenic (Streptococcus mutans) and arginolytic (Streptococcus gordonii) bacteria in the presence of sucrose. We observed that 1.5% (wt/vol) L-arginine (also a clinically effective concentration) exposure suppressed the outgrowth of S. mutans, favored S. gordonii dominance, and maintained Actinomyces naeslundii growth within biofilms (versus vehicle control). In parallel, topical L-arginine treatments substantially reduced the amounts of insoluble exopolysaccharides (EPS) by >3-fold, which significantly altered the three-dimensional (3D) architecture of the biofilm. Intriguingly, L-arginine repressed S. mutans genes associated with insoluble EPS (gtfB) and bacteriocin (SMU.150) production, while spxB expression (H 2 O 2 production) by S. gordonii increased sharply during biofilm development, which resulted in higher H 2 O 2 levels in arginine-treated biofilms. These modifications resulted in a markedly defective EPS matrix and areas devoid of any bacterial clusters (microcolonies) on the apatitic surface, while the in situ pH values at the biofilm-apatite interface were nearly one unit higher in arginine-treated biofilms (versus the vehicle control). Our data reveal new biological properties of L-arginine that impact biofilm matrix assembly and the dynamic microbial interactions associated with pathogenic biofilm development, indicating the multiaction potency of this promising biofilm disruptor. IMPORTANCEDental caries is one of the most prevalent and costly infectious diseases worldwide, caused by a biofilm formed on tooth surfaces. Novel strategies that compromise the ability of virulent species to assemble and maintain pathogenic biofilms could be an effective alternative to conventional antimicrobials that indiscriminately kill other oral species, including commensal bacteria. L-Arginine at 1.5% has been shown to be clinically effective in modulating cariogenic biofilms via alkali production by arginolytic bacteria. Using a mixed-species ecological model, we show new mechanisms by which L-arginine disrupts the process of biofilm matrix assembly and the dynamic microbial interactions that are associated with cariogenic biofilm development, without impacting the bacterial viability. These results may aid in the development of enhanced methods to control biofilms using L-arginine. Biofilms formed on surfaces are highly organized and structured microbial communities enmeshed in an extracellular matrix composed of polymeric substances, such as exopoly...

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

l -Arginine Modifies the Exopolysaccharide Matrix and Thwarts Streptococcus mutans Outgrowth within Mixed-Species Oral Biofilms

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Conversely, the downstream sequence of recA in S. mutans is different from that in S. pneumoniae, where disruption of S. mutans SMU2083 and SMU2084, located downstream of the recA gene, did not affect the amount of extracellular DNA uptake (data not shown). Recent studies indicate that S. mutans can control the expression of many of its bacteriocins through the com system (14,17,46). The coordination of bacteriocin production and competence suggests that S. mutans may generate DNA for uptake using lysis of neighboring species (17).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competence-Dependent Endogenous DNA Rearrangement and Uptake of Extracellular DNA Give a Natural Variant of Streptococcus mutans without Biofilm Formation

et al. 2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The production of water-insoluble glucan (WIG) enables Streptococcus mutans to survive and persist in the oral niche. WIG is produced from sucrose by glucosyltransferase encoded tandemly by the highly homologous gtfB and gtfC genes. Conversely, a single hybrid gene from the endogenous recombination of gtfB and gtfC is easily generated using RecA, resulting in S. mutans UA159 WIG ؊ (rate of ϳ1.0 ؋ 10 ؊3 ). The pneumococcus recA gene is regulated as a late competence gene. comX gene mutations did not lead to the appearance of WIG

show abstract

“…S. mutans is able to produce at least five different bacteriocins, mutacins I to V. Mutacins I, II, and III belong to the lanthionine-containing lantibiotics with a relatively broad antimicrobial spectrum, while mutacins IV and V are unmodified nonlantibiotics, with mutacin IV specifically active against members of the mitis group of oral streptococci (20,163,164). A more recent genome search of S. mutans strain UA159 revealed at least nine other putative mutacin-encoding genes, suggesting a large repertoire or "arsenal" that can be used against its competitors (70). Numerous studies have suggested that the mutacin activity of S. mutans could be related to its prevalence and successful establishment in the dental biofilm (101,147).…”

Section: Bacteriocins and Their Role In Interspecies Interaction Withmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interspecies Interactions within Oral Microbial Communities

Kuramitsu

Lux

et al. 2007

Microbiol Mol Biol Rev

507

408

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

SUMMARY While reductionism has greatly advanced microbiology in the past 400 years, assembly of smaller pieces just could not explain the whole! Modern microbiologists are learning “system thinking” and “holism.” Such an approach is changing our understanding of microbial physiology and our ability to diagnose/treat microbial infections. This review uses oral microbial communities as a focal point to describe this new trend. With the common name “dental plaque,” oral microbial communities are some of the most complex microbial floras in the human body, consisting of more than 700 different bacterial species. For a very long time, oral microbiologists endeavored to use reductionism to identify the key genes or key pathogens responsible for oral microbial pathogenesis. The limitations of reductionism forced scientists to begin adopting new strategies using emerging concepts such as interspecies interaction, microbial community, biofilms, polymicrobial disease, etc. These new research directions indicate that the whole is much more than the simple sum of its parts, since the interactions between different parts resulted in many new physiological functions which cannot be observed with individual components. This review describes some of these interesting interspecies-interaction scenarios.

show abstract

Bacteriocin (Mutacin) Production by Streptococcus mutans Genome Sequence Reference Strain UA159: Elucidation of the Antimicrobial Repertoire by Genetic Dissection

Cited by 72 publications

References 27 publications

l -Arginine Modifies the Exopolysaccharide Matrix and Thwarts Streptococcus mutans Outgrowth within Mixed-Species Oral Biofilms

l -Arginine Modifies the Exopolysaccharide Matrix and Thwarts Streptococcus mutans Outgrowth within Mixed-Species Oral Biofilms

Competence-Dependent Endogenous DNA Rearrangement and Uptake of Extracellular DNA Give a Natural Variant of Streptococcus mutans without Biofilm Formation

Interspecies Interactions within Oral Microbial Communities

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About