Project description:Childhood caries is an extremely common childhood chronic disease, affecting 60–90% of children in industrialized countries. It results in lesions in both the primary and permanent dentitions, hospitalizations and emergency room visits, high treatment costs, loss of school days, diminished ability to learn increases the risk of caries in adulthood. Streptococcus mutans is a key bacteria in caries development. While multiple caries risk factors have been identified, significant interpersonal variability not explained by known risk factors still exists. The immune system generates a personal antibody repertoire that helps maintain a balanced and healthy oral microbiome. Using mass-spectrometry, we probed in an hypothesis-free manner which S. mutans proteins are identified by antibodies of children with low and high DMFT (decayed, missing, filled teeth) scores. We identified a core set of proteins, recognized by the immune system of most individuals. This set was enriched with proteins enabling bacterial adhesion, and included glucosyltransferases and glucan-binding proteins known to be important for S. mutans cariogenicity. To explore the physiological relevance of these findings, we tested the ability of saliva from caries free individuals in preventing S. mutans from binding to the tooth surface. Indeed, saliva from individuals with caries free prevented S. mutans binding to teeth. These findings map the S. mutans proteome targeted by the immune system and suggest that inhibiting tooth attachment is a primary mechanism used by the immune system to maintain oral balance and prevent caries. These findings provide new insights into the role of the immune system in maintaining oral health and preventing caries development.
Project description:Recent RNA-seq studies have given us a deeper insight into the cariogenic impact of carbohydrate sources in the bacterium Streptococcus mutans, the principal etiological agent of human dental caries. The process of dental caries development is given by the ability of this bacterium to ferment some carbohydrates up to organic acids contributing to the pH decrease in the oral cavity and the demineralization of the enamel. Besides, in dental caries progression, an important role is played by biofilm formation, which starts and ends with free planktonic cells, and it is given by several unique properties called virulence factors. The most cariogenic carbohydrate is considered sucrose, an easily metabolizable source of energy inducing acidification and synthesis of glucans forming typical bacterial cell clumps. By using multifaceted methodological approaches, we compared the transcriptomic and metabolomic profiles of S. mutans growing in planktonic culture on preferred and non-preferred carbohydrates and fasting conditions. Lactose and xylitol showed high effectiveness in the regulation of the IPS metabolism, cell wall structure and overall virulence involved in the initial phase of biofilm formation and structure but with an opposite pattern compared to sucrose and glucose. These findings confirm the recent results that xylitol and lactose play a vital role in biofilm structure but do not reduce its formation related to their cariogenic potential.
Project description:To gain further insights into the molecular basis of the effects of oxygen on biofilm formation by S. mutans (Ahn and Burne, 2007), we used DNA microarrays to analyze gene expression profiles of cells cultured under aerobic or anaerobic conditions. Keywords: Oxygen, Biofilm, Caries, Microarray
Project description:Streptococcus mutans is a common constituent of oral biofilms and a primary etiologic agent of human dental caries. The bacteria associated with dental caries have a potent ability to produce organic acids from dietary carbohydrates and to grow and metabolize in acidic conditions. In this study, we observed supplementation with 1.5% arginine (final concentration) had inhibitory effects on the growth of S. mutans in complex and chemically defined media, particularly when cells were exposed to acid or oxidative stress. Deep-sequencing of RNA (RNA-Seq) comparing the transcriptomes of S. mutans growing in a chemically defined medium with and without 1.5% arginine in neutral and acidic pH conditions and under oxidative stress conditions revealed interesting results. The results provide new insights into the mechanisms of action by which arginine inhibits dental caries through direct adverse effects on multiple virulence-related properties of the most common human dental caries pathogen. The findings significantly enhance our understanding of the genetics and physiology of this cariogenic pathogen.
Project description:Streptococcus mutans, the primary etiologic agent of human dental caries, and a variety of oral Streptococcus and Actinomyces spp. synthesize high molecular mass homopolymers of fructose (fructans) with predominantly β2,1- (inulins) or β2,6-linkages (levans). The ability of S. mutans to degrade fructans contributes to the severity of dental caries. The extracellular product of fruA of S. mutans is an exo-β-D-fructofuranosidase that releases fructose from levan and inulin. Located 70 bp downstream of fruA, fruB encodes a member of the glycoside hydrolase family 32, but the function of FruB has not been established.In this study, the transcriptomic analysis of UA159 and a fruB mutant grown on 0.2% levan revealed differential expression of genes encoding ABC transporters, transcriptional regulators and genes involved in growth and stress tolerance. The results provide new insights into the mechanisms of action by which FruB utilizes homo-polymers of fructose, specifically levan. The findings significantly enhance our understanding of the genetics and physiology of this cariogenic pathogen S. mutans.
Project description:Astronauts have been previously shown to exhibit decreased salivary lysozyme and increased dental calculus and gingival inflammation in response to space flight, host factors that could contribute to oral diseases such as caries and periodontitis. However, the specific physiological response of caries-causing bacteria such as Streptococcus mutans to space flight and/or ground-based simulated microgravity has not been extensively investigated. In this study, High Aspect Ratio Vessel (HARV) S. mutans simulated microgravity and normal gravity cultures were assessed for changes in metabolite and transcriptome profiles, H2O2 resistance, and competence in sucrose-containing biofilm media. Stationary phase S. mutans simulated microgravity cultures displayed increased killing by H2O2 compared to normal gravity control cultures, but competence was not affected. RNA-seq analysis revealed that expression of 153 genes was up-regulated ≥ 2-fold and 94 genes down-regulated ≥ 2-fold during simulated microgravity HARV growth. These included a number of genes located on extrachromosomal elements, as well as genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism, translation, and stress responses. Collectively, these results suggest that growth under microgravity analog conditions promotes changes in S. mutans gene expression and physiology that may translate to an altered cariogenic potential of this organism during space flight missions.
Project description:Streptococcus mutans is a bacterial cause of dental caries that is resistant to bacitracin. This study aimed to elucidate the mbrABCD-related bacitracin resistance mechanism of S. mutans. Transcriptome data demonstrated that 33 genes were induced more than 2 times in expression by bacitracin. Fourteen genes were selected from the upregulated genes and each defective mutants were constructed for measurement of their sensitivity to bacitracin. Among the mutants, only the mbrA- or mbrB-deficient mutants exhibited 100 to 121-fold greater sensitivity to bacitracin when compared with the wild-type strain. Moreover, knockout of the mbrC and mbrD genes abolished the bacitracin-induced mbrAB upregulation. These results suggest that bacitracin upregulates mbrAB transcription via mbrCD, which confers the bacitracin resistant phenotype on S. mutans.
Project description:Streptococcus mutans is a bacterial cause of dental caries that is resistant to bacitracin. This study aimed to elucidate the mbrABCD-related bacitracin resistance mechanism of S. mutans. Transcriptome data demonstrated that 33 genes were induced more than 2 times in expression by bacitracin. Fourteen genes were selected from the upregulated genes and each defective mutants were constructed for measurement of their sensitivity to bacitracin. Among the mutants, only the mbrA- or mbrB-deficient mutants exhibited 100 to 121-fold greater sensitivity to bacitracin when compared with the wild-type strain. Moreover, knockout of the mbrC and mbrD genes abolished the bacitracin-induced mbrAB upregulation. These results suggest that bacitracin upregulates mbrAB transcription via mbrCD, which confers the bacitracin resistant phenotype on S. mutans. Single experiment data using Streptcoccus mutans wild-type strain UA159, a comparison of transcriptome between control sample and experimental (bacitracin-treated) one.
Project description:Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans, as the most common bacterial and fungal in the oral cavity respectively, are considered as microbiological risk marker of early childhood caries. S. mutans MVs contain virulence proteins, which play a role in biofilm formation and disease progression. Our previous research found that S. mutans MVs harboring glucosyltransferases augment C. albicans biofilm formation through increasing the exopolysaccharide production, but the specific impact of S. mutans MVs on C. albicans virulence and pathogenicity is still unknown.
Project description:S-glutathionylation is an important post-translational modification (PTM) process that targets the protein cysteine thiol by the addition of glutathione (GSH). This modification can prevent proteolysis from over-oxidation of protein cysteine residue during the condition of oxidative or nitrosative stress. Recent studies suggest that protein S-glutathionylation plays an essential role in control of cell-signaling pathways by affecting the protein function in bacteria and even humans. In this study, we investigated the impacts of S-glutathionylation on physiological regulation within Streptococcus mutans, the primary etiological agent of human dental caries. To determine S-glutathionylated proteins in bacteria, the Cys-reactive isobaric reagents iodoTMT (iodoacetyl Tandem Mass Tag) were used to label the S-glutathionylated Cys sites and anti-TMT antibody conjugated resins were used to enrich the modified peptides. Proteome profiling identified a total of 357 glutathionylated cysteines sites on 239 proteins. Functional enrichment analysis indicated that these S-glutathionylated proteins were involved in diverse important biological processes, such as pyruvate metabolism and glycolysis