Influence of the culture medium on the synthesis of α-d-glucans by Streptococcus cricetus AHT

Streptococcus mutans fructosyltransferase (ftf) and glucosyltransferase (gtfBC) operon fusion strains in continuous culture

“…The use of a chemostat to modulate the growth rate, pH, and other culture conditions has illustrated the remarkable phenotypic plasticity of the oral streptococci. By altering the growth environment, a wide range of phenotypic changes in polymer synthesis capacities (12,55,56), adherence capabilities (40), acidogenicity (27), acidurance (2, 20), carbohydrate transport (19), and glycolytic capacities (7) of S. mutans has been elicited. In particular, it has been demonstrated that the phenotypic expression of the glucan and fructan synthetic capacities of oral streptococci is regulated in response to multiple environmental variables (24,34,50).…”