[Assessment of gene associated with Streptococcus mutans biofilm formation].

Streptococcus mutans, the primary etiological agent of human dental caries and an obligate biofilm-forming bacterium, has developed a variety of mechanisms to colonize the tooth surface. Oral transmission of S. mutans through contact between mother and child is thought to be one of the risks of developing dental caries. In this study, I surveyed oral transmission frequency of S. mutans from mother to a 3-year-old child. In 19 (10.9%) of 174 mother-child pairs, S. mutans was isolated from both mother and chihld. The identities of genomic DNA from S. mutans in 5 (45.5%) of the 11 mother-child pairs were presented. Among those, the biofilms formed by S. mutans 3 c and 4 c, respectively, which had high and low ability of biofilm formation, were examined by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Microscopic analysis revealed that the volume of biofilm formation in 3 c was higher than that in 4 c biofilm in the bottom. Furthermore, DNA microarrays were used to study the gene expression profiles of 3 c and 4 c biofilms. In this paper we describe that about 3.8% of genes showed differential expression; about 2.2% of genes were activated and about 1.6% were repressed in 3 c biofilm compared with 4 c biofilm. The present study suggests that biofilm gene expression is strongly associated with differential biofilm formation. Our identification of biofilm-involved genes points to mechanisms of the virulence of S. mutans and provides a first foothold for studying the natural history of S. mutans infections in mother and child.