|
|
||||||||
RESEARCH REPORT |
1 University of Connecticut, School of Dental Medicine, Farmington, CT 06030-1605, USA; and
2 University of Florida, College of Dentistry, Gainesville, FL 32610-0424, USA
* corresponding author, Tanzer{at}nso.uchc.edu
| ABSTRACT |
|---|
|
|
|---|
KEY WORDS: Streptococcus mutans PTS xylitol sucrose phosphorylase caries
| INTRODUCTION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
The roles of sugar transport systems in expression of the virulence (cariogenicity) of Streptococcus mutans are minimally defined in vivo, except for some preliminary reports (Tanzer et al., unpublished observations), due in part to the multiplicity of those systems and their nominal functional redundancy (Slee and Tanzer, 1982; LeBlanc, 1994; Tao et al., 1993). Further complicating this is the reported generation from the disaccharide sucrose of free glucose and fructose by extracellular invertase of S. mutans (Kuramitsu, 1973), although others have reported this activity to be intracellular among the mutans streptococci (Tanzer et al., 1973, 1977). Also, extracellular fructosyltransferase and glucosyltransferases of the mutans streptococci most commonly colonizing humans, S. mutans and S. sobrinus (Coykendall, 1989; Tanzer et al., 2001a), produce free glucose and free fructose, respectively, as by-products of polymer synthesis and thus available for transport into the cells (Tanzer et al., 1985a; Kuramitsu, 1993; LeBlanc, 1994). Both of these transferases, as well as invertase, use dietary sucrose as substrate.
Two of the genetic determinants of fructose transport are now known (Wen et al., 2001); one of them also transports xylitol into S. mutans, which inhibits glycolytic metabolism (Trahan, 1995). Study of xylitol-non-transporting and thus xylitol-resistant (Xr) S. mutans thus provides opportunity for evaluation of the dimension of the role of fructose transport in virulence and the exploration of a possible basis of caries inhibition by xylitol.
Xylitol inhibition of caries has attracted considerable interest (Scheinin and Mäkinen, 1975; Mäkinen et al., 1995; Isokangas et al., 2000; Söderling et al., 2000), as has the puzzling emergence, in the mouths of habitual xylitol users, of S. mutans that are resistant to metabolic inhibition by xylitol (Xr) (Trahan and Mouton, 1987).
S. mutans has at least three fructose transport systems, two of which are phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP)-dependent, fructose-specific, phosphotransferase systems (PTSs) that are encoded by two operons. Within them, the fruI gene is inducible by both fructose and sucrose. It encodes for a protein that transports fructose and xylitol. Its deletion renders the mutant cells metabolism and growth resistant to xylitol inhibition (Xr). By contrast, fruCD gene is constitutive. It encodes for a protein that also transports fructose, but does not transport xylitol. fruCD deletion does not render the mutant cells metabolism and growth resistant to xylitol (Wen et al., 2001).
We have previously engineered, by allelic exchange, stable S. mutans isogenic deletion mutants of the sequenced wild-type strain UA159 (Ajdic et al., 2002) that are defective in either or both of the two PEP-dependent fructose-specific PTSs (Wen et al., 2001), and another stable isogenic mutant of UA159 that is defective in sucrose phosphorylase (gtfA) (Wen and Burne, 2001). This, and the availability of rats free of indigenous mutans streptococci, enabled the present research to aim to characterize the colonization and cariogenicity of fructose transport mutants of S. mutans strains that are either xylitol-sensitive (Xs) or Xr in the setting of a high-sucrose diet. It also provided us with an opportunity to gain insight about the counter-intuitive emergence of Xr S. mutans within the mouths of habitual xylitol users, a condition associated with caries inhibition (Trahan, 1995). We tested the hypothesis that fructose and xylitol transport deletions have no effect on colonization or cariogenicity in sucrose-fed rats.
| MATERIALS & METHODS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
Animals teeth were swabbed at 21 days after inoculation for recovery of flora, and, immediately after euthanasia, 42 days after inoculation, molars of one hemi-mandible were removed en bloc and sonified for recoveries of total flora (trypticase soy sheeps blood agar), total streptococci (mitis salivarius agar) (MS), and S. mutans inoculants (MS plus appropriate antibiotic). Recoveries were expressed in both relative counts (% of total recoverable flora) and absolute CFU counts/3 mandibular molars. Procedures for blinded scoring of caries lesions and statistical procedures have been detailed previously (Tanzer et al., 1985b, 2001b).
| RESULTS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
Genotypes recovered from agar plates after sonification of molars were analyzed by PCR with gene-specific primers (Wen et al., 2001), and results showed no detectable alterations in the respective loci (data not shown).
Caries Scores
The sum of smooth-surface and fissure scores for un-inoculated groups was much lower than for any mutans-inoculated groups (Fig. 2
), indicating that the majority of caries lesions were attributable to S. mutans colonization (p < 0.001). The wild-type UA159 was less cariogenic than the internal control reference strain 10449S (p < 0.001 for the data pooled from the two studies, n = 22/group).
|
However, dentinal (Dm) scores for the fruI-infected group were 3035% lower than those of the WT- or gtfA-infected groups (p = 0.011 and p = 0.004, respectively) when the data were pooled for the two trials (n = 22/group).
Infection by the gtfA mutant resulted in no loss of virulence expression on either the enamel or in the dentin.
| DISCUSSION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
It is perhaps not surprising that, in the face of a high-sucrose diet, the condition most associated with aggressive caries in humans and rats (Mandel, 1970; Tanzer, 1979; Tanzer et al., 2001a), the impact of fructose transport per se is weak, given the recognition of multiple sucrose transport systems, transport of monosaccharides generated by extracellular glucosyl and fructosyl transferases, and putatively extracellular invertase, all producing fermentable carbohydrates that can be transported (Slee and Tanzer, 1982; LeBlanc, 1994), converted to intracellular polysaccharides available for subsequent catabolism (Birkhed and Tanzer, 1979) and directly catabolized glycolytically (Tanzer et al., 1971; LeBlanc, 1994). However, the ability to discern the contributions of fructose transport systems per se has been enabled in this study by the availability of stable mutations in two fructose-specific transporters. It is unclear from these in vivo experiments whether the fruI deletion has in some way altered the ability of the mutant to grow in plaque biofilm, to adhere to the teeth in it, or both. In vitro growth rates of UA159 and its mutants studied here were similar (data not shown) to those previously reported (Wen et al., 2001).
Notably, the now-extensive literature on xylitol inhibition of caries (Mäkinen et al., 1995; Isokangas et al., 2000), usually monitored by measure of frank cavitation of lesions into the dentin, is associated with what might seem to be paradoxical emergence among frequent users of xylitol of Xr S. mutans in the mouth (Trahan and Mouton, 1987). The present observations suggest that, in fact, Xr strains of S. mutans are of diminished virulence by virtue of compromised colonization of the teeth and compromised ability to induce lesions that penetrate dentin, i.e., to the point that they would have been scored in those clinical studies.
The present study also indicates that sucrose phosphorylase of S. mutans is not a virulence determinant in rats consuming a high-sucrose diet. This is in agreement with some authors (Barletta et al., 1988), who used mono-associated gnotobiotic rats fed diet containing only 5% sucrose but 62% cornstarch, while in disagreement with others who repeatedly inoculated specific-pathogen-free rat dams and weanlings fed the same 56% sucrose diet as used in the present study, gave 10% sucrose to drink, and removed the major salivary glands of the weanling test animals (Yamashita et al., 1993). It should also be noted, from the present data, that the now-popularly-studied sequenced strain UA159 (Ajdic et al., 2002), while a very good colonizer of rats teeth, nonetheless appears less cariogenic than NCTC-10449S. A cautionary note is thus in order concerning UA159s broad use in studies of pathogenesis. It may well be that UA159 has been maintained in laboratories on the bench-top or in incubators for years, during which it has undergone untold numbers of replications, perhaps selecting for diminished virulence. The microbiological literature is replete with data on loss of virulence of laboratory strains maintained in this way. Our laboratory strain NCTC-10449S, since the mid-1970s, has been maintained in a lyophilized or deep-frozen state. It is always retrieved from 70°C stocks prior to experiments.
In summary, in the presence of a high-sucrose diet, fructose transport via either or both of two fructose PTS mechanisms is a weak determinant of virulence on enamel, but the fruI-encoded PTS does contribute to the ability to colonize the teeth and induce lesions that penetrate dentin. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of dissociation of the impact of a strain of S. mutans ability to induce decay of enamel vs. dentin.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
|---|
Received August 8, 2005; Last revision December 13, 2005; Accepted December 13, 2005
| REFERENCES |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Barletta RG, Michalek SM, Curtiss R III (1988). Analysis of the virulence of Streptococcus mutans serotype c gtfA mutants in the rat model system. Infect Immun 56:322330.
Birkhed D, Tanzer JM (1979). Glycogen synthesis pathway in Streptococcus mutans NCTC 10449S and its glycogen synthesis-defective mutant 805. Arch Oral Biol 24:6774.[ISI][Medline]
Coykendall AL (1989). Classification and identification of the viridans streptococci. Clin Microbiol Rev 2:315328.
Cvitkovitch DG, Boyd DA, Hamilton IR (1995). Regulation of sugar transport via the multiple sugar metabolism operon of Streptococcus mutans by the phosphoenolpyruvate phosphotransferase system. J Bacteriol 177:57045706.
Isokangas P, Söderling E, Pienihäkkinen K, Alanen P (2000). Occurrence of dental decay in children after maternal consumption of xylitol chewing gum, a follow-up from 0 to 5 years of age. J Dent Res 79:18851889.
Kuramitsu HK (1973). Characterization of invertase activity from cariogenic Streptococcus mutans. J Bacteriol 115:10031010.
Kuramitsu HK (1993). Virulence factors of mutans streptococci: role of molecular genetics. Crit Rev Oral Biol Med 4:159176.
LeBlanc D (1994). Role of sucrose metabolism in the cariogenicity of the mutans streptococci. In: Molecular genetics of bacterial pathogenesis: a tribute to Stanley Falkow. Chap. 31. Miller VL, Kaper JB, Portnoy DA, Isberg RR, editors. Washington, DC: ASM Press, pp. 465477.
Mäkinen KK, Bennett CA, Hujoel PP, Isokangas PJ, Isotupa KP, Pape HR Jr, et al. (1995). Xylitol chewing gums and caries rates: a 40-month cohort study. J Dent Res 74:19041913.
Mandel ID (1970). Effects of dietary modifications on caries in humans. J Dent Res 49:12011211.
Scheinin A, Mäkinen KK, editors (1975). Turku sugar studies: I-XXI. Acta Odontol Scand 33(Suppl 70):1348.[ISI][Medline]
Slee AM, Tanzer JM (1982). Sucrose transport by Streptococcus mutans. Evidence for multiple transport systems. Biochim Biophys Acta 692:415424.[Medline]
Söderling E, Isokangas P, Pienihäkkinen K, Tenovuo J (2000). Influence of maternal xylitol consumption on acquisition of mutans streptococci by infants. J Dent Res 79:882887.
Tanzer JM (1979). Essential dependence of smooth surface caries on, and augmentation of fissure caries by, sucrose and Streptococcus mutans infection. Infect Immun 25:526531.
Tanzer JM, Chassy BM, Krichevsky MI (1971). Sucrose metabolism by Streptococcus mutans, SL-I. Biochim Biophys Acta 261:379387.[Medline]
Tanzer JM, Brown AT, McInerney MF (1973). Identification, preliminary characterization, and evidence for the regulation of invertase in Streptococcus mutans. J Bacteriol 116:192202.
Tanzer JM, Brown AT, McInerney MF, Woodiel FN (1977). Comparative study of invertases of Streptococcus mutans. Infect Immun 16:318327.
Tanzer JM, Freedman ML, Fitzgerald RJ (1985a). Virulence of mutants defective in glucosyl transferase, dextran-mediated aggregation, or dextranase activity. In: Molecular basis of oral microbial adhesion. Mergenhagen SE, Rosan B, editors. Washington, DC: American Society for Microbiology, pp. 204211.
Tanzer JM, Kurasz AB, Clive J (1985b). Competitive displacement of mutans streptococci and inhibition of tooth decay by Streptococcus salivarius TOVE-R. Infect Immun 48:4450.
Tanzer JM, Livingston J, Thompson AM (2001a). The microbiology of primary dental caries. In: Consensus development conference on the diagnosis & management of dental caries throughout life. National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and Office of Medical Applications of Research, NIH. Full Paper with Evidence Tables. http://www.nidcr.nih.gov/news/consensus/jason_tanzer.pdf
Tanzer JM, Baranowski LK, Rogers JD, Haase EM, Scannapieco FA (2001b). Oral colonization and cariogenicity of Streptococcus gordonii in specific pathogen-free TAN:SPFOM(OM)BR rats consuming starch or sucrose diets. Arch Oral Biol 46:323333.[ISI][Medline]
Tanzer JM, Grant L, Thompson A, Li L, Rogers JD, Haase EM, et al. (2003). Amylase-binding proteins A (AbpA) and B (AbpB) differentially affect colonization of rats teeth by Streptococcus gordonii. Microbiology 149:26532660.
Tao L, Sutcliffe IC, Russell RR, Ferretti JJ (1993). Transport of sugars, including sucrose, by the msm transport system of Streptococcus mutans. J Dent Res 72:13861390.
Trahan L (1995). Xylitol: a review of its action on mutans streptococci and dental plaqueits significance. Int Dent J 45(1 Suppl 1):7792.[Medline]
Trahan L, Mouton C (1987). Selection for Streptococcus mutans with an altered xylitol transport capacity in chronic xylitol consumers. J Dent Res 66:982988.
Wen ZT, Burne RA (2001). Construction of a new integration vector for use in Streptococcus mutans. Plasmid 45:3136.[ISI][Medline]
Wen ZT, Browngardt C, Burne RA (2001). Characterization of two operons that encode components of fructose-specific enzyme II of the sugar:phosphotransferase system of Streptococcus mutans. FEMS Microbiol Lett 205:337342.[ISI][Medline]
Yamashita Y, Bowen WH, Burne RA, Kuramitsu HK (1993). Role of Streptococcus mutans gtf genes in caries induction in the specific-pathogen-free rat model. Infect Immun 61:38113817.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| IADR Journals | Advances in Dental Research ® |
| Journal of Dental Research ® | Critical Reviews (1990-2004) |