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The Biology of Streptococcus mutans

Authors :
L. J. Brady
Jessica K. Kajfasz
José A. Lemos
Zezhang T. Wen
Lin Zeng
Irlan Almeida Freires
Jacqueline Abranches
Sara R. Palmer
Source :
Gram-Positive Pathogens
Publication Year :
2019
Publisher :
American Society for Microbiology, 2019.

Abstract

As a major etiological agent of human dental caries, Streptococcus mutans resides primarily in biofilms that form on the tooth surfaces, also known as dental plaque. In addition to caries, S. mutans is responsible for cases of infective endocarditis with a subset of strains being indirectly implicated with the onset of additional extraoral pathologies. During the past 4 decades, functional studies of S. mutans have focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms the organism employs to form robust biofilms on tooth surfaces, to rapidly metabolize a wide variety of carbohydrates obtained from the host diet, and to survive numerous (and frequent) environmental challenges encountered in oral biofilms. In these areas of research, S. mutans has served as a model organism for ground-breaking new discoveries that have, at times, challenged long-standing dogmas based on bacterial paradigms such as Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis . In addition to sections dedicated to carbohydrate metabolism, biofilm formation, and stress responses, this article discusses newer developments in S. mutans biology research, namely, how S. mutans interspecies and cross-kingdom interactions dictate the development and pathogenic potential of oral biofilms and how next-generation sequencing technologies have led to a much better understanding of the physiology and diversity of S. mutans as a species.

Details

ISSN :
21650497
Volume :
7
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Microbiology Spectrum
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....b00152387664bfb12aaa57bc0be13003
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1128/microbiolspec.gpp3-0051-2018