Biomaterial Database

Different bacteriocin activities of Streptococcus mutans reflect distinct phylogenetic lineages. 2002

M Balakrishnan, and R S Simmonds, and M Kilian, and J R Tagg

*Department of Microbiology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand and †Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Bartholin Building, University of Aarhus, Aarhus C, Denmark.

Bacteriocins produced by mutans streptococci are known as mutacins. In this study 16 broadly active mutacin-producing Streptococcus mutans strains from New Zealand, North America and Europe were classified into four groups (A-D) on the basis of differences in their activity in deferred antagonism tests against either the homologous producer strain (to test for presence of self-immunity) or indicator strains Staphylococcus aureus 46 and Enterococcus faecium TE1. Two of the strains included in the study (UA140 and UA96) were representatives of the group I and II mutacin producer strains previously described by Caufield and co-workers. One of the New Zealand isolates of group A (S. mutans strain N) appeared to produce inhibitory activity similar to that of the group I prototype strain UA140. Four other New Zealand isolates of group B (S. mutans strains M19, M34, B34 and D14) had mutacin II-like activity. The group B mutacin producers differed from the group A mutacin producers in their additional activity against Staph. aureus 46. Seven S. mutans strains (M46, B46, B57, M12, M28, B28 and 13M) were distinguished from the group A and group B mutacin producers in that they inhibited E. faecium TE1. These were called group C mutacin producers. Strains H7 and H23 resembled the group C strains in their action on both indicator strains TE1 and 46. However, these two strains failed to exhibit immunity to their own inhibitory products in the deferred antagonism test and were separately classified as group D mutacin producers. Phylogenetic analysis of the strains by several genotypic and phenotypic characteristics revealed that the mutacin groups were associated with distinct evolutionary lineages of S. mutans.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008875	Middle Aged	An adult aged 45 - 64 years.	Middle Age
D009520	New Zealand	A group of islands in the southwest Pacific. Its capital is Wellington. It was discovered by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642 and circumnavigated by Cook in 1769. Colonized in 1840 by the New Zealand Company, it became a British crown colony in 1840 until 1907 when colonial status was terminated. New Zealand is a partly anglicized form of the original Dutch name Nieuw Zeeland, new sea land, possibly with reference to the Dutch province of Zeeland. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p842 & Room, Brewer's Dictionary of Names, 1992, p378)
D009656	North America	The northern continent of the Western Hemisphere, extending northward from the Colombia-Panama border and including CENTRAL AMERICA, MEXICO, Caribbean area, the UNITED STATES, CANADA and GREENLAND. The term often refers more narrowly to MEXICO, continental UNITED STATES, AND CANADA.	Northern America
D010802	Phylogeny	The relationships of groups of organisms as reflected by their genetic makeup.	Community Phylogenetics,Molecular Phylogenetics,Phylogenetic Analyses,Phylogenetic Analysis,Phylogenetic Clustering,Phylogenetic Comparative Analysis,Phylogenetic Comparative Methods,Phylogenetic Distance,Phylogenetic Generalized Least Squares,Phylogenetic Groups,Phylogenetic Incongruence,Phylogenetic Inference,Phylogenetic Networks,Phylogenetic Reconstruction,Phylogenetic Relatedness,Phylogenetic Relationships,Phylogenetic Signal,Phylogenetic Structure,Phylogenetic Tree,Phylogenetic Trees,Phylogenomics,Analyse, Phylogenetic,Analysis, Phylogenetic,Analysis, Phylogenetic Comparative,Clustering, Phylogenetic,Community Phylogenetic,Comparative Analysis, Phylogenetic,Comparative Method, Phylogenetic,Distance, Phylogenetic,Group, Phylogenetic,Incongruence, Phylogenetic,Inference, Phylogenetic,Method, Phylogenetic Comparative,Molecular Phylogenetic,Network, Phylogenetic,Phylogenetic Analyse,Phylogenetic Clusterings,Phylogenetic Comparative Analyses,Phylogenetic Comparative Method,Phylogenetic Distances,Phylogenetic Group,Phylogenetic Incongruences,Phylogenetic Inferences,Phylogenetic Network,Phylogenetic Reconstructions,Phylogenetic Relatednesses,Phylogenetic Relationship,Phylogenetic Signals,Phylogenetic Structures,Phylogenetic, Community,Phylogenetic, Molecular,Phylogenies,Phylogenomic,Reconstruction, Phylogenetic,Relatedness, Phylogenetic,Relationship, Phylogenetic,Signal, Phylogenetic,Structure, Phylogenetic,Tree, Phylogenetic
D005060	Europe	The continent north of AFRICA, west of ASIA and east of the ATLANTIC OCEAN.	Northern Europe,Southern Europe,Western Europe
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000328	Adult	A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available.	Adults
D000898	Antibiosis	A natural association between organisms that is detrimental to at least one of them. This often refers to the production of chemicals by one microorganism that is harmful to another.	Bacterial Interference,Microbial Antagonism,Interference, Bacterial,Antagonism, Microbial,Antagonisms, Microbial,Antibioses,Bacterial Interferences,Interferences, Bacterial,Microbial Antagonisms
D001430	Bacteriocins	Substances elaborated by specific strains of bacteria that are lethal against other strains of the same or related species. They are protein or lipopolysaccharide-protein complexes used in taxonomy studies of bacteria.	Bacteriocin,Lantibiotic,Lantibiotics
D013295	Streptococcus mutans	A polysaccharide-producing species of STREPTOCOCCUS isolated from human dental plaque.