Journal
JOURNAL OF DENTAL RESEARCH
Volume 87, Issue 10, Pages 964-968Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/154405910808701001
Keywords
Streptococcus mutans; serotype; expression; protein antigen
Categories
Funding
- Osaka University Graduate School of Dentistry
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan
- Japan Society for Promotion of Science [19209063, 16390605]
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan [18689050, 19791572]
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [18689050, 19791572, 19209063, 16390605] Funding Source: KAKEN
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Streptococcus mutans, a major pathogen of dental caries and infective endocarditis, is classified into serotypes c, e, f, and k, with serotype k strains recently reported to be frequently detected in persons with infective endocarditis. Thus, we hypothesized that common properties associated with infective endocarditis are present in those strains. Fifty-six oral S. mutans strains, including 11 serotype k strains, were analyzed. Western blotting analysis revealed expression of the 3 types of glucosyltransferases in all strains, while expression of the approximately 190-kDa cell-surface protein (PA) was absent in 12 strains, among which the prevalence of serotype k (7/12) was significantly high. Furthermore, cellular hydrophobicity and phagocytosis susceptibility were lower in the group of serotype k strains. These results indicate that the absence of PA expression, low cellular hydrophobicity, and phagocytosis susceptibility are common bacterial properties associated with serotype k strains, which may be associated with virulence for infective endocarditis.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available