Biomaterial Database

Mouth-to-mouth transmission of the bacterium Streptococcus mutans between mother and child. 1985

R J Berkowitz, and P Jones

The production of bacteriocins by 314 Streptococcus mutans isolates from 20 mother-infant pairs was studied to test the likelihood of maternal transmission of this species. The patterns of inhibition were sufficiently different to allow differentiation of the 314 isolates into 41 bacteriocin types. The bacteriocin codes of isolates within one pair did not correspond to the codes of strains isolated from any other pair. The number of infant strains (per infant isolates) matching maternal strains within each mother-infant pair were 10/10, 10/10, 10/10, 12/12, 2/3, 10/10, 10/10, 10/10, 3/3, 5/10, 8/8, 3/3, 8/8, 3/3, 7/7, 4/4, 3/3, 8/8, 3/3 and 4/4 for pairs 1-20, respectively. Statistical analysis, utilizing a randomization test, generated a p value less than 0.0001, which is 12 standard errors above the level expected if the pairings were random.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007223	Infant	A child between 1 and 23 months of age.	Infants
D009034	Mother-Child Relations	Interaction between a mother and child.	Mother-Child Interaction,Mother-Child Relationship,Mother-Infant Interaction,Mother-Infant Relations,Interaction, Mother-Child,Interaction, Mother-Infant,Interactions, Mother-Child,Interactions, Mother-Infant,Mother Child Interaction,Mother Child Relations,Mother Child Relationship,Mother Infant Interaction,Mother Infant Relations,Mother-Child Interactions,Mother-Child Relation,Mother-Child Relationships,Mother-Infant Interactions,Mother-Infant Relation,Relation, Mother-Child,Relation, Mother-Infant,Relations, Mother-Child,Relations, Mother-Infant,Relationship, Mother-Child,Relationships, Mother-Child
D009055	Mouth	The oval-shaped oral cavity located at the apex of the digestive tract and consisting of two parts: the vestibule and the oral cavity proper.	Oral Cavity,Cavitas Oris,Cavitas oris propria,Mouth Cavity Proper,Oral Cavity Proper,Vestibule Oris,Vestibule of the Mouth,Cavity, Oral
D005260	Female		Females
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
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
D013045	Species Specificity	The restriction of a characteristic behavior, anatomical structure or physical system, such as immune response; metabolic response, or gene or gene variant to the members of one species. It refers to that property which differentiates one species from another but it is also used for phylogenetic levels higher or lower than the species.	Species Specificities,Specificities, Species,Specificity, Species
D013295	Streptococcus mutans	A polysaccharide-producing species of STREPTOCOCCUS isolated from human dental plaque.