The role of salivary antimicrobial peptides in shaping Streptococcus mutans ecology

Antimicrobial peptides are among the repertoire of host innate immune defenses. In mucosal immunity, the health-disease balance can be greatly modulated by the interplay between host immune factors and colonized microflora. Microbial ecology within dental plaque is constantly shaped by environmental factors present within the oral cavity. Several antimicrobial peptides are detected in saliva and their bactericidal activities against oral bacteria, including Streptococcus mutans, the primary etiologic agent of dental caries, have been clearly demonstrated. However, the role of these antimicrobial peptides in S .mutans ecology and host caries experience is not welldefined. We hypothesized that various strains of S. mutans possess different inherent susceptibility/resistance profiles to host salivary antimicrobial peptides and that hostspecific quantities of these peptides may influence plaque colonization by particular S.