BACKGROUND AND AIM: Previous studies have shown that lactobacillus presented in food products affects oral ecology. In this study, we decided to show the effect of periodic use of Kidi Lact, a product containing probiotic bacteria which is recommended for improvement of gastrointestinal (GI) function in babies and children by physicians, on level of streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) in saliva am...

The lacE and lacG genes from Streptococcus mutans have been isolated and characterized, and their nucleotide sequence has been determined. The lacE gene encodes the lactose-specific Enzyme II component of the phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase system (PTS). The lacG gene encodes the phospho-beta-galactosidase which cleaves the lactose phosphate that is formed by the lactose PTS. T...

Whole, unstimulated saliva and dental plaque were collected from 63 children ages 6-13 years, 29 with dental caries and 34 without. If a child was infected with Streptococcus mutans, it was isolated from dental plaque and characterized. Saliva was tested for IgM, IgG, and IgA that would bind indigenous S. mutans, if present, and for antibodies that would bind 6 laboratory strains of S. mutans, ...

Genomic libraries from Streptococcus mutans OMZ175 were constructed in bacteriophage vectors. DNA fragments 1 to 2 kilobases in length were cloned in expression vector lambda gt11. S. mutans DNA fragments 15 to 20 kilobases in length were inserted in the BamHI site of phage EMBL3. Rabbit antiserum raised against an S. mutans saliva-interacting protein with a molecular weight of 74,000, designat...

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 mot...

Dental caries is a biofilm-dependent oral disease and Streptococcus mutans is the known primary etiologic agent of dental caries that initiates biofilm formation on tooth surfaces. Although some Lactobacillus strains inhibit biofilm formation of oral pathogenic bacteria, the molecular mechanisms by which lactobacilli inhibit bacterial biofilm formation are not clearly understood. In this study,...

In eight subjects who were initially highly colonized with Streptococcus mutans and who used a 1% chlorhexidine gel, the numbers of this organism were suppressed in both plaque and saliva. Bacterial plaque samples were obtained from all tooth surfaces, and the recolonization pattern of S. mutans was studied over a 26-week period. At baseline, 83% of all surfaces harbored S. mutans with buccal s...

Dental caries is an infectious process which ultimately destroys the tooth. Streptococcus mutans is considered to be the main agent causing this disease. If microorganisms with antagonistic action on S. mutans were found, they might provide a way of avoiding or controlling the disease. Within the framework of the Oral Microbial Ecology approach, the aim of this project was to identify S. mutans...

The effect of dextranases (EC 3.2.1.11) from the oral isolates Actinomyces israelii and Bacteroides ochraceus on water-insoluble glucan production by the Streptococcus mutans dextransucrase (EC 2.4.1.5) and sucrose-dependent adherence to smooth glass surfaces by S. mutans was studied. Collection on membrane filters of water-insoluble polysaccharides synthesized from radioactive sucrose was used...

The c subunit of Streptococcus mutans ATP synthase (FoF1) is functionally exchangeable with that of Escherichia coli, since E. coli with a hybrid FoF1 is able to grow on minimum succinate medium through oxidative phosphorylation. E. coli F1 bound to the hybrid Fo with the S. mutans c subunit showed N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide-sensitive ATPase activity similar to that of E. coli FoF1. Thus, th...