Acquired CRISPR spacers and rhamnose-glucose polysaccharide defects confer resistance to <i>Streptococcus mutans</i> phage ɸAPCM01.

ABSTRACT: Streptococcus mutans is commonly associated with the development of dental caries worldwide. Due to their specificity for S. mutans, phage represents a promising avenue for future targeted therapeutic strategies. In this study, we investigated how phage resistance develops in S. mutans. As a model phage, we used ɸAPCM01, which is known to infect a serotype e strain. We isolated and sequenced the genomes of 15 spontaneous resistant mutants and found that 10 had acquired novel clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRIPSR) spacers targeting the phage, with a total of 18 new spacers identified. Additionally, eight strains contained mutations in rhamnose-glucose polysaccharide biosynthetic genes, three of which also acquired spacers. Only the rgp

SUBMITTER: Wall LA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12178566 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature