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The Biology of Streptococcus mutans
- 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.
- Subjects :
- Microbiology (medical)
Physiology
ved/biology.organism_classification_rank.species
Dental Plaque
Bacillus subtilis
Dental Caries
Biology
medicine.disease_cause
Dental plaque
Article
Microbiology
Streptococcus mutans
03 medical and health sciences
Genetics
medicine
Humans
Functional studies
Model organism
Escherichia coli
Organism
030304 developmental biology
0303 health sciences
General Immunology and Microbiology
Ecology
030306 microbiology
ved/biology
Biofilm
Cell Biology
biology.organism_classification
medicine.disease
Infectious Diseases
Biofilms
Carbohydrate Metabolism
Signal Transduction
Subjects
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