The structural gene for a glucan-binding protein (GBP) of Streptococcus mutans has been inserted into a bacteriophage lambda vector and expressed in Escherichia coli K12. Lysates of E. coli infected with the recombinant phage contain an antigenic protein of the same size as S. mutans GBP. The GBP synthesized in E. coli can be affinity-purified on immobilized glucan and antiserum raised against ...

Streptococcus mutans, the major etiological agent in human dental caries, is capable of forming a biofilm, or dental plaque, on the tooth surface (Loesche, 1986; Tanzer et al., 2001). S. mutans generates large amounts of acid within dental plaque from fermentable dietary carbohydrates. During meals, the ingestion of carbohydrates causes the pH of the dental plaque to fall below 4.0. Acid accumu...

BACKGROUND Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus are considered to be important bacterial species in the initiation of human dental caries. Therefore, the establishment of a reliable genotyping method to distinguish S. mutans from S. sobrinus is of central importance. OBJECTIVE We assessed the usefulness of repetitive extragenic palindromic polymerase chain reaction (rep-PCR) using ...

OBJECTIVE This study aims to elucidate the effect of IgY anti ComD on the biological properties of Streptococcus mutans. (S. mutans) ComD is an interspecies quorum-sensing signaling receptor that plays an important role in biofilm formation by S. mutans. MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY Egg yolk IgY was produced by the immunization of chickens with a DNA vaccine containing the ComD DNA coding region...

1 Department of Oncology and Diagnostic Sciences, Dental School, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, 2 Department of Preventive Dentistry, Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), University of Amsterdam and Free University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 3 Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Department of Pathology, School of Medicine,...

background: dental caries is one of the most prevalent infectious diseases affecting humans of all ages. streptococcus mutans has an important role in the development of dental caries by acid production. the purpose of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial and biofi lm disinfective effects of the oak tree quercus infectoria galls against s. mutans. materials and methods: the bacterial st...

In vitro antibacterial potential of the chloroform, ethyl acetate, hexane, methanol and aqueous extracts of Calotropis gigantia (L.) R. Br. was evaluated by using five cariogenic bacteria, Actinomyces viscosus, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, Streptococcus mitis and Streptococcus mutans. Agar well diffusion method and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) were used for this pur...

Enzyme I and HPr, the general proteins of the phosphoenolpyruvate-sugar phosphotransferase system, play a pivotal role in the control of sugar utilization in gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. To determine whether growth conditions could modify the rate of biosynthesis of these proteins in Streptococcus mutans, we first purified to homogeneity enzyme I and HPr from S. mutans ATCC 27352. ...

We report that certain anthraquinones (AQs) reduce Streptococcus mutans biofilm formation on hydroxyapatite at concentrations below the MIC. Although AQs are known to generate reactive oxygen species, the latter do not underlie the observed effect. Our results suggest that AQs inhibit S. mutans biofilm formation by causing membrane perturbation.