J Korean Acad Oral Health.  2020 Mar;44(1):34-40. 10.11149/jkaoh.2020.44.1.34.

Molecular epidemiology and characterization of Streptococcus mutans strains in Korea

• Kim SY
• Bae IK
• Lee JH
• Shin JH
• Kim JB

• KMID: 2471982
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.11149/jkaoh.2020.44.1.34

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
We investigated the characteristics of Streptococcus mutans in the national culture collection from Korea. Twenty-nine (dental plaque, n=27; endodontic infections, n=1; blood, n=1) isolates were included in this study.
METHODS
Antimicrobial susceptibilities were tested using the disk diffusion test. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST), serotyping, and collagen-binding genes were used for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and direct sequencing. A collagen-binding (to assess the adhesion properties) assay was performed. S. mutans demonstrated high susceptibility to antimicrobial agents. Differences in collagen-binding abilities of the cnm-positive and -negative groups were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test (P<0.05).
RESULTS
MLST analyses revealed 25 sequence types (STs), 17 of which (ST213-ST229) contained new alleles. The strains were classified into four serotypes with the c type encompassing 79.3% of all strains, while the e, f, and k types representing 6.9% each. Analysis of the cnm and cbm genes, which encode the two surface adhesin components of S. mutans, revealed three cnm-positive strains, each displaying greater adhesion ability than those of the cnm-negative strains.
CONCLUSIONS
This study highlights the presence of a wide variety of S. mutans genotypes in Korea. These findings may provide useful information regarding the pathogenesis of infectious diseases, such as dental caries.

Keyword

Adhesion; Bacteremia; Collagen binding; MLST; Infection; Inflammation; Streptococcus mutans

MeSH Terms

Alleles
Anti-Infective Agents
Bacteremia
Communicable Diseases
Dental Caries
Diffusion
Genotype
Inflammation
Korea*
Molecular Epidemiology*
Multilocus Sequence Typing
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Serogroup
Serotyping
Streptococcus mutans*
Streptococcus*
Anti-Infective Agents

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1. Comparison of collagen-binding activities between cnm-positive (cnm+)and cnm-negative (cnm-) strains.

Reference

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