Ribosomal-processing cysteine protease homolog modulates Streptococcus mutans glucan production and interkingdom interactions.

ABSTRACT: Glucan-dependent biofilm formation is a crucial process in the establishment of Streptococcus mutans as a cariogenic oral microbe. The process of glucan formation has been investigated in great detail, with glycosyltransferases GtfB, GtfC, and GtfD shown to be indispensable for the synthesis of glucans from sucrose. Glucan production can be visualized during biofilm formation through fluorescent labeling, and its abundance, as well as the effect of glucans on general biofilm architecture, is a common phenotype to study S. mutans virulence regulation. Here, we describe an entirely new phenotype associated with glucan production, caused by a mutation in the open reading frame SMU_848, which is located in an operon encoding ribosome-associated proteins. This mutation led to the

SUBMITTER: Treerat P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11270869 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature