Affiliation:
1. Oral Infection and Immunity Branch, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The initial stages of dental plaque formation involve the adherence of early colonizing organisms such as
Streptococcus gordonii
and
Actinomyces naeslundii
to the saliva-coated tooth surface and to each other. The
S. gordonii
surface proteins SspA and SspB are known to play a role in adherence to salivary proteins and mediate coaggregation with other bacteria. Coaggregation is the adhesin receptor-mediated interaction between genetically distinct cell types and appears to be ubiquitous among oral isolates. To define the function of SspA and SspB separately on the surface of their natural host, we constructed and analyzed the coaggregation properties of an isogenic
sspB
mutant of
S. gordonii
DL1, an
sspAB
double mutant, and a previously described
sspA
mutant.
A. naeslundii
strains have been previously classified into six coaggregation groups based on the nature of their coaggregations with
S. gordonii
DL1 and other oral streptococci. Coaggregation assays with the
sspA
and
sspB
mutants showed that SspA and SspB are the streptococcal proteins primarily responsible for defining these coaggregation groups and, thus, are highly significant in the establishment of early dental plaque. SspA exhibited two coaggregation-specific functions. It participated in lactose-inhibitable and -noninhibitable interactions, while SspB mediated only lactose-noninhibitable coaggregations. Accordingly, the
sspAB
double mutant lacked these functions and allowed us to detect a third coaggregation interaction with one of these organisms. These proteins may play an important role in development of
S. gordonii-A. naeslundii
communities in early dental plaque. Understanding these adhesin proteins will aid investigations of complex microbial communities that characterize periodontal diseases.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Infectious Diseases,Immunology,Microbiology,Parasitology
Cited by
56 articles.
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